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HISTORICAL SKETCH 

OP 

THE HUGUENOT CONGREGATIONS 

OF 

SOUTH CAROLINA, 

BY 
THE LATE DANIEL RAVENEL OF CHARLESTON, 

WITH NOTES BY 
THE LATE GENERAL WILMOT G. DeSAUSSURE. 



The French Protestant Church of Charleston is one of four 
churches founded by tlie French Protestants who on the 
Revocation of the Edict of Nantz sought Civil and Religious 
liberty in that part of "the Province of Carolina" since 
known as South Carolina. 

In our earlier Statutes this Section of Country is described 
as "that part of this Province that lyeth Southward and west- 
ward of Cape Feare;" sometimes "as the south and west 
part of this Province, ' ' or by terras of like import. (See 
Note 1st.) 

1 "The Province of Carolina" was the title of the Country com- 
prehended between 30.30 and 29 Degrv^es of North Latitude, and ex- 
tending westward indefinitely, granted in two Charters of Charles II, 
in 1663 and 1665, to eight Lord,s Proprietors. In the portion "lying 
southward and westward of Cap 3 Feare, "the Proprietary Government 
was overthrown by the People in 1719, from which time to 1739, the 
Government was Provisional. The Charters were, on the 25th July, 
1729, surrendered to the King, by seven of the Lords Proprietors, 
under an act of Parliament, 3 Geo. II, ch. 34. The eighth Proprietor 
Burrendered his interest afterwards. "The Government, from the 



^aT> 



8 

A few French Protestants had come to this part of the 
Province before the Revocation of the Edict of Nantz. Mr. 
Samuel Wilson, Secretary of the Lords Proprietors, in an 
account of the Province printed in London in 1682, speaks 
of "the French Protestants who are there, and skilled in 
Wine," and a pubHcation printed also in London the same 
year, entitled "Carolma &c. " by T, A. gentleman, clerk on 
board his Majesty's Ship the Richmond, "which was sent out 
in the year 1680 to enquire into the state of that Country, 
and returned this present year 1682," states that 45 French 
Protestant passengers came in that ship, to whom his Majesty 
gave "their passage free for themselves, wives, children, 
goods and servants," to promote the making of silk, and the 
culture of the Yiue." And the late Mr. Thomas Gaillard 
of Alabama found in the Books of the Secretary of the State 
of South Carolina, records of Grants and Warrants of Surveys 
to French names as early as 1677 and 1678. He gives the 
names and dates of six, and says there were others ; but there 
is no evidence that these earlier immigrants formed a distinct 
community, or a church ; although they may have united with 
their countrymen on the larger Immigration which followed 
the Revocation of the Edict of Nantz. It is therefore of 
these last that we are chiefly to speak, 

Tliere was a colony of French Protestants, north and east 

surrender in 1729, became Regal, and the Province was di\'ided into 
North and South Carolina, by an order of the British Council, which 
fixed the boundaries between the two Provinces." Dr. Thos. Cooper, 
1 Vol. St. at Large 40 & 41. 

The last Act on our Statute Book, in which the terms "South and 
west part of this Province" are used, is dated 20 March, 1718-19. 

The fii'st Act under the Provisional Government is dated 23 December, 
1719, to which the Hon. James Moore. Governor, signs his assent 
"in his Majesty's behalf." 3 St. at Large — p. 96 & 97. 

Although this part of Carolina is described in our earlier statutes, 
as above stated, theie is an Act dated 5 December, 1(396, entitled "An 
Act for the encouragement of the better settlement of South Caro- 
lina." In a note on this Act, Dr. Cooper says "The part of Carolina 
lying south and west of Cape Fear, began about this time to be called 
South Carolina." 2 St. at Large, 124. 



# 



of Cape Fear J organized as a church. A few of them may- 
have joined the Settlers on the Santee, but not as a body. 
They were a colon}' encouraged by William III in the year 
1690 to come to America, and who located themselves at 
the Manniken Town in Virginia, above the falls of the James 
River. Not well pleased with the Lands they first occupied, 
they removed in 1707 to the Southward, and seated them- 
selves upon Trent River, with Mr. Rybourg (Richbourg) 
their Pastor. ( ^ ) 

South Carolina received accessions at a subsequent period 
from other continental Protestants, whom it is proper to 
notice. The Swiss Protestant Colony, who came out in 1732 
under the advice and lead of Mr. John Peter Pury of 
Neufchatel, and settled en the north east side of the Savannah 
River and founded Purysburg, consisted of about 860 
persons. But they came under the auspices of the Estab- 
lished Church, and were accompanied by the Rev. Mr. 
Bagnion as he is called by Dr. Dalcho, a Swiss Minister, 
who, having received Episcopal Ordination in London, settled 
among them. ( ^ ) 

The last French Protestant Colony to South Carolina was 
that which came over with the Rev. Mr. Jean Louis Gibert 
and settled at New Bordeaux, in Abbeville District. They 
consisted of 138 persons, and were accompanied by two 
Ministers, the Rev. Mr. J. L. Gibert and the Rev. Mr. 
Pierre Boutilon. They embarked at Plymouth on 2nd 
January, 1764, and arrived safely in Charlestown on the 12th 
April, 1764. Many of them are still in their original locality, 
and I believe, conform their worship to the usages of the 
Presbyterian Churches of this country. ( ^ ) 

1 Williams' No. Ca. p. 178. 

2 Hewatt, p. 296— Carroll's Collections. Dalcho, p. 386. 

* The late James L. Petigru was a Grandson of the Rev. Mr. Gibert. 
The venerable Stephen Thomas, who died in Charleston on the 17th 
May, 1839, in the 89th year of his age, was one of this colony, and 
from a descendant of his, still living, Mr. Stephen Thomas Robinson, 
I came in possession of the following paper, copied by himself in 



10 



Our State received benefit from the immigration of Indi- 
viduals of tlie same Protestant Faitli, In 1734 the family 
of DeSaussure joined their destinies with South Carolina, and 
have without interruption held a distinguished position in 
the country, both socially and officially. 

The chief purpose of this article is to trace the History of 
the Church established in Charleston by the Immigrants after 
the Revocation of the Edict of Nantz. These Immigrants 
however cannot be dissociated from their co-Immigrants, 
who organized other churches of like character in South Car- 
olina. The refugees to this State settled originally in three 
localities, viz, Charlestown; on the Santee; and at Orange 
Quarter on Cooper River. The settlement in St. John's Berke- 
ley was made by removals from other points. But all these 
founded churches, and they were the first people who 
preached the Gospel in South Carolina, beyond the limits of 
Charleston. 

The descendants of the French Protestant Refugees in our 
State are now all identified with the community by language, 
habits and pursuits. Yet the lapse of time has not obliterated 
the fact and the associations of descent. They are not only 
remembered, but are generally recognized with favour by 
others, as well as by themselves. 

The same general facts are believed to apply to the descend- 
ants of the Frencli Refugees in Great Britain and in America. 
They have not, with few exceptions, preserved their dis- 
tinctive religious organization and worship. They have 

June, 1836, viz : "Liste des Protestants Refugees a Plymouth dans le 
dessein d'aller s'etablier dans Les possessions du Roy de la Grand 
Bretagne en Amerique; embarqu^s le 2nd Janvier, 1764, abord du 
Navire Le Friendship, Capitaine Gregory Perkins, devant faire voille 
au premier bons vents pour Charleston, en Caroline; et dont on a fait 
trois exemplaires ; un pour etre addressea Messrs les qnatres feder — 
,Commissaires ; un pour etre presente a Monsieur Le Gouverneur de 
Charleston; et le troisieme pour eti-e conserve dans le Colonic; tous 
les trois sign^s -pax Messrs Gibert et Boutilon, pasteurs. " 

Then follow the names of the 138 persons who came on board the 
"Friendship." 



11 

become gradually absorbed in the Religions Bodies around 
them. But they carried with them everywhere elements of 
character and intelligence, and a skill in useful arts, which 
have made them valuable contributors to industrial progress 
and social order. They have transmitted the moral influences, 
without the religious organization in which those influences 
had their origin and nurture. The tendency to assimilate 
with those among whom we live does not account for the 
fact. In Great Britain, although numerous reformed 
churches were established by the French and Walloons, two 
only survive. 

The noble and generous sympathy, with which the Refugees 
from Holland, the Netherlands and France were met, was 
often marred by a jealousy of strangers, and by a supposed 
conflict of interest between the new comers and the artisans 
of the country; whilst the sentiment in favour of the National 
Church and the policy of promoting it, not only discouraged 
the Refugees, but resulted in their gradual reduction to the 
two which still survive. "The strangers," says Mr. Burn, 
"appear to have been claimed by the English Church as a 
part of its flock. ' ' 

In America circumstances of a different though of a 
kindred character led to a like result. The Huguenot Colon- 
ists generally united in Churches of their own; but the one 
organized in Charleston is the only one which has survived. 
The Refugees to America and their Churches, have to some 
extent a common history. But each group has also its own. 
The circumstances which controlled or guided the Refugees 
to South Carolina, it will be our chief purpose to trace. 

A few preliminary remarks are necessary to a jast under- 
standing of the difiiculties experienced by the Refugees to 
our State as religious bodies; and of the events which have 
led to the present position of this church, and to the oflnce I 
have ventured to assume, of gathering fragmentary details, of 
limited interest in themselves, yet deriving interest from the 
people to whom they relate. 



12 

The Refugees to Carolina had left their native lands within 
a year or eighteen months of their arrival in America. Their 
worship was therefore conducted, of necessity for some years, 
in all their churches, in the French language. But the 
families of the French acquired gradually ths language of the 
country and this necessity wore away, whilst their condition 
afforded motives for visiting other churches. It was difficult, 
both in the Town and in the Settlements out of the Town, 
to maintain with regularity their peculiar worship. All 
these clmrches had to meet a common calamity. When the 
Ministers who had led or accompanied them were removed 
by death, the suspensions or interruptions of public worship 
were frequent, from the difficulty of supplying their places. 
We shall see, as we proceed, that this was one of the reasons 
why the churches, thus established out of Charleston, con- 
formed with the Church of England' upon the legal establish- 
ment of that Church by the Province in 1706, and why many 
of the original members of tne church in Charleston were 
induced to provide for their families in other churches, a more 
regular worship than their own afforded. With most of the 
latter an arrangement, temporary at first, resulted in a change 
of denomination. The original Ecclesiastical Bond thus became 
weakened, and then broken. 

The Church in Charleston was reluctant at all times to 
admit the necessity or expediency of change, either in its 
organization or in the language of its services. The idea 
of a change of language under its own organization and forms 
seems not to have been suggested until a late period. There 
were probably at former periods obstacles to that course, 
which do not now exist. But tlie French language continued 
the medium of its services, long after our City afforded a 
French Protestant population sufficient to sustain a Congre- 
gation, and the families of many original members attached 
themselves to other congregations. It struggled long to 
maintain its original vvorsliip in all respects, and failed in the 
effort. 



18 

The last Pastor who conducted the services in French, was 
the Rev. Mr. Courlat. After an experience of several years, 
he resigned his position in 1823, and returned to Switzerland, 
his native country. He came hither an invalid and con- 
tinued in delicate health. He is said to have preached with 
fervour, and even with eloquence, yet his hearers were 
usually six or seven males. ( ^ ) 

The reverence felt for ancestral usages had been indulged, 
^he concerns of the church had reached a crisis, and new 
counsels were necessary. The possession of a charter and the 
ownership of property are the facts which seem, under God, 
to have prevented the extinction of the Reformed French 
Church of Charleston. But these facts involved duties and 
responsibilities. The members of the Corporation, reduced in 
numbers, and most of them advanced in years, took occasion, 
in their personal intercourse with the young men of Huguenot 
families, to set before them the duty of joining the Corpora- 
tion, of taking part in the care of its property, and of con- 
sulting upon the future of the church. In the course of 
a few years, a considerable number of yoimg men became 
members of the Corporation. Their meetings and conferences 
revived an interest in the church, and in th<3 year 1828 it 
was resolved, that an effort should be made, in trust in divine 
aid, to revive its services, according to the ancient principles 
and forms, but in the English language. The proceedings 
under this resolution, to their accomplishment in the reopen- 
ing of the church for Divine service in the English language, 

^ A friend informed me that he and the late Mr. James L. Petigru, 
were the only attendants on one of his last sermons. 

ELIAS HORRY. MEM. 

E^ias Horry translated "the morning and evening servicje, the service 
for the Catechism and the table of lessons for the morning and evening 
service on special occasions — in all eighteen quarto pp. of the original." 

REV. JASPER ADAMS, 
Eulogiiim before Coll. Charleston, Jany,1836. 



14 

will be detailed in their proper place. The new interest in 
the church thus awakened, led to a desire to know its 
history. By the younger members of the Corporation, now 
the greater number, the antecedents of this and its kindred 
churches were imperfectly understood. They were to some 
extent traditional. The Kecords of our church anterior to 
1740 were known to have been burnt, and the earlier his- 
torical notices of the colony had become scarce. We are 
indebted to Mr. Carroll's Historical Collections published in 
1836 and to other publications, for much information which 
could not then be readily obtained. It became therefore a 
just and natural desire to possess an authentic, though com- 
pendious record of a j^eople who came to these shores with 
no uncertain purpose, and under no ordinary motives. 

A committee was therefore appointed to prepare a sketch of 
the History of our church. Of this Committee, Mr. Thomas 
Smith Grimke was the chairman. It was desired and under- 
stood that he would perform this duty. He would have 
performed it ably. But whilst on a visit to Ohio, to fulfill a 
Literary appointment, his useful life was suddenly closed. 
He died on the 12th October, 1834. Seized with Asiatic 
Cholera, in a stage coach on his way to Columbus, Ohio, he 
was received by a family on the Road and the sad ministra- 
tions of the dying hour were afforded him by strangers. 
(See IS'ote 2nd). Our disappointment in regard to the His- 

Note 3nd. The Cincinnati Democratic Intelligencer of 17th October, 
1834 says, that after delivery of his address at Oxford Mr. Grimk^ 
returned to Cincinnati to attend the College of Professional Teachers, 
before whom he spoke repeatedly. That body met on 15th October. 
1834, and passed resolutions on his death. 

The New York Commercial Advertiser says he died at Gwynne's, 
about 22 miles from Columbus in Ohio, on Saturday 1 1th October. 
That he had delivered an address to the Erodelphian Society of the 
Miami University. That he was buried by moonlight. The last sad 
office was performed by the Rev. Dr. Preston of the Episcopal Church, 
a large concourse of citizens testifying their respect by attending his 
obsequies. 

The Ohio Monitor says he died at Q-wynne's farm, Madison County, 
Ohio, on the 13th inst. 



15 

fcorical Sketch was thrown into the shade by the loss to us of 
such a member, and to our community of such a man. 

But the purpose was not abandoned. There was, for 
several years, reason to expect that the object would be accom- 
plished on a wider plan than we had originally designed. 
Circumstances however led to a second disappointment. (See 
Note 3rd). 

In January, 1859, a resolution submitted by our late valued 
Elder, John B. DeSaussure, was adopted, requesting the 
writer of these remarks to prepare the desired sketcli. 

In compliance with this request the minutes and papers of 
our church were examined, and notes taken of the matters 
that seemed proper to such a lecord. Indeed the sketch had 
been commenced. But it was deemed a measure of prudence, 
under the dangers to which the political events of 1860 
exposed our City, to send into the Interior our Records and 
Books not in immediate use, and also the Communion plate. 
All these were carefully placed in a box and sent to the 
Merchants' Bank at Cheraw for safety. The ISIotes taken 
from the Becords were placed in the same box. The belief 

The Columbus Sentinel says. He died on Sunday morning. His 
remains were interred in the Columbus Grave-yard on Monday 
evening. It adds, "It is consoling to remark that his eyes were not 
closed solely amidst strangers. His Brother, the Hon. Judge Fred- 
erick Grimke of Ohio, had gone to Columbus to meet him and 
learning his condition, reached Mr. Gwynne's, with one friend, just 
before his death, and attended his remains to Columbus that day. ' ' 

A letter, dated Chillicothe, states that he got out of the stage at the 
house of a gardener of the name of Anderson, who immediately gave 
him his personal attention, and that Judge Grimke, with H. D. Thomp- 
son, arrived about midnight but found him in a state of collapse. 

Note 3rd. Mr Thomas Gaillard, formerly of this State but latterly 
of Alabama, was known to have collected materials for such a History. 
His interest in Ecclesiastical History generally, his industry, his 
exact mind and his clear style, made him eminently fit for the under- 
taking. Why his purpose was not accomplished is not explained. 
His manuscripts are no donbt valuable. From another source we 
expected a brief Historical notice of our Church in its religious aspects. 
This expectation was defeated by the failure of the health of the Rev. 
Mr. Howard. 



16 

was then entertained that at no distant period its contents 
would be restored to us. This expectation has been 
disappointed. On the approach of Genl. Blair of the United 
States Army to Cheraw, in 1865, this box, with other 
articles left in the Bank for safe keeping, was removed from 
the building, but fell, it is believed, into the hands of the 
enemy. Our enquiries have led to no information respecting 
it. (1) 

But with the lapse of time and tlie loss of records, the 
desire has rather grown than declined, of preserving what is 
known. And this has been strongly expressed to the writer 
by several of the younger members of the Congregation. The 
worship of our Church in its translated Liturgies has now 
been maintained 25 years. It numbers young persons of in- 
telligence and worth, to whom a record is due. It contains 
many children, for whom a record should be provided. 
Under the circumstances, an attempt is made to collate in 
these pages such facts and reminiscences as remain. Imper- 
fect as they are, they will probably correct traditional errors 
and misconceptions, and may awaken interest, altliough they 
fail to gratify it. 

And this interest can scarcely be limited to ourselves. Our 
Church is nearly coeval with our City. The Colony was 
commenced in 1670. Its location on the west side of Ashley 
River was soon found inconvenient and the Authorities 
looked to a better site on the opposite bank, on the point 
made by the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. But the prepara- 
tions were gradual, and the change was not effected until 
1680. Mr. Samuel Wilson, Secretary of the Lords Pro- 
prietors, says: "In May 1680 the Lords Proprietors sent 
their orders, appointirg the Port Town of these two Rivers, 
to be built on the point of land that divides them, and to be 

Note 4tli. The only Books left to us are, The Journal on Min. 
utes from 10 October, 1830. The Treasurer's account book from 

, a small book containing the Minutes of the Elders 

from March, 1848, and a newly commenced Register of Baptisms, Mar- 
riages, Interments, &c. 



IT 

called Charlestown, since which, about one hundred houses 
are there built." This is corroborated by Mr. T. A. (Thomas 
Asli) also before referred to. The Revocation of the Edict 
of Nantz took place on the 18th of October, 1685. Most of 
the French Immigrants came over in 1686, about six years 
after the new Town was made the Port. The Huguenot 
Record in Carolina would therefore possess interest from age 
alone. 

But as an embodiment and expression of sentiment, reli- 
gious and civil; as an element in the Social influences then 
just commenced, these Immigrants and their Churches rise in 
Historical importance. 

They represented the principles of the Reformed Church 
of France at its purest period. They came as Professors of 
its Faith. They brought over and established its worship. 
Wherever they settled they had tlieir churches under ministers 
who had accompanied them. They came in families to 
establish homes, and they did establish homes, and families, 
and churches. 

The Immigrants were of different social positions, but a 
large proportion were artisans. Many of them probably 
remained in the Town. None brought wealth. Most of 
them were obliged to abandon their possessions and effects, 
Some however brought considerable means. Many families 
had articles of Silver, such as Tankards, cups, spoons, in- 
dicating the domestic comfort in which they had lived. All 
entered upon occupations. Their example vvas good. Their 
principles and habits were infused into general sentiment. 
A very large proportion of the old families of Carolina are of 
Huguenot descent. 

The date and character of the immigration are entitled to 
our first consideration. These rest upon various evidence. 
Statutory evidence claims precedence. In the Statutes at 
Large, is "An Act for the better encouragement of that part 
of the Province that lies south and west of Cape Feare. " 
This Act bears date 1st May, 1691, about five years and a 
2 



18 

half after the date of the Eevocation of the Edict of Nantz. 
The preamble forms a large part of the Statute, and is 
curiously historical. ( ^ ) 

I condense it. It recites that "greate numbers of French 
Protestants" had been forced by persecution for their religion's 
sake ' ' to flye out of France ; ' ' thousands of whom coming 
to England and elsewhere in the English dominions, were 
kindly received and relieved; that the Lords Proprietors of 
the Province had been pleased to send and encourage several 
of the French Protestants to come into this part of the Pro- 
vince, "and by their special orders to the Governors and 
' ' Deputies here, to make them, the said French Protestants, 
"magistrates in the civil and military part of this Government, ' ' 
and also to give and grant unto many of the said French 
Protestants and other foreigners, several lands to be held by 
them and their heirs and assigns forever; all which lands 
&c. are settled and inhabited by the said French Protestants 
and other foreigners. . It then recites, "that several persons 
born in Switzerland have of late years come into the Province, 
and have, upon the same encouragement as the said French 
Protestants, settled in the same. ' ' It then enacts, ' ' that all 
and every French Protestant, or person born in Switzerland, 
of what age soever he may be, at present an Inhabitant &c. , 
or that heretofore hath been an Inhabitant, and is now absent 
and shall return before 1st May, 1692, be adjudged, and 
taken to all intents and purposes, as free born of that part of 
this province that lies south and west of Cape Feare &c. ' ' 

The Act then confirms all transfers of lands made by tlie 
French and Swiss. To this recognition and confirmation 
of Rights and privileges, conditions are annexed which will 

^ It will be seen in 3nd Vol. St. at Large, p. 58. 

Note 5th. This is the earliest Statute I have found relating to Im- 
migrants. In Statutes at Large, page 38, is the following note of Dr. 
Cooper, viz: "No original Manuscript Acts of the Provincial Assembly 
are to be found from 1687 to 1690 . nor any list of that period noticed 
in the Catalogues of Ch. Justice Trott or Judge Grimk6. The inter- 
ruption is from 23rd July, 1687, to 23nd December, 1690. 



19 

be noticed hereafter. The point, to which I call attention 
here, is that the facts recited occurred "of late years", an 
expression denoting several years before May 1st, 1691. 
French and Swiss Protestants, refugees from religious per- 
secutions, had received grants and made purchases of lands, 
which were then settled and inhabited by them. This Act 
determines the character of the Immigration. Its motives 
and purposes were religious, illustrating the History of the 
period. The Immigrants had among them men of position, 
deemed worthy of being assigned to offices of trust in the 
Province, This Act is a key to the Huguenot history in 
South Carolina. There are no newspapers of that early 
period, and few public records so old. Arrivals cannot be 
ascertained from these sources, but private records furnish 
evidence of the date and character of the Immigration. The 
first that suggests itself istlie letter of Mrs. Judith Manigault, 
the wife of Pierre Manigault, a translation of which was 
originally published in Ramsay's History of South Carolina. 
From this letter we may conclude that she and the family of 
which she was a member, arrived in 1G8G. They left France 
before the Revocation of the Edict of Nantz, under the 
persecutions that preceded that event. They were in London 
in 1685, spent three months in that city, and then embarked 
for Carolina, suffered disasters, stopped at two points, and 
were nine months making the voyage. (See Note 6th ) 

Note 6th. Mr. Charles Manigault is in possssion of the Receipt for 
the passage money of Pierre Gitton, Lonis Gitton, Magdelin Gitton, 
Judith Gitton & Fr. dated London 27 April, 1685, witnessed by Sir 
Peter Colleton and Richard Hobson. They must have left France 
before the Revocation of the Edict of Nantz. 

Judith Gitton was then about 30 years of age. She married Noe 
Royer, Junr., who died mthout leaving children. She afterwards 
married Pierre Manigault, and died in 17ll leaving two children, Ga- 
briel and Judith. 

The family is in possession of th6 letter first published by Ramsay, 
and believed to be the original draft. It has no date. It has the fol- 
lowing endorsement on it, in the liand writing of her husband Mons. 
Pierre Manigault, viz: "Lettre de ma femme escrite a son frere." 



20 

The Mazjck family are in possession of a full and carefully 
written family record prepared by the son of the Immigrant. 
From tliis it appears that Isaac Mazyck, the head of the 
family in Carolina, fled to Holland in 1685 and went to 
England in 1686. But dissatisfied with the bigotry of James 
II and concluding to come to Carolina, "He, with many 
other pious and worthy French Protestant families, embarked 
and sailed from London for Carolina in October, 1686, and 
happily arrived in Charleston, S. C, in December, 1686, as 
appears by a memorandum of his." From an entry in an 
old French Bible, in the possession of the Grimke family, 
it appears that Gideon Faucheraud fled from France after the 
repeal of the Edict of Nantz, 1685, and arrived in Carolina 
1686. (See Note 7th.) 

Mr. Alfred Huger, the present owner of a plantation in St. 
Thomas Parish south of the T of Cooper Eiver, , holds 
among his muniments of Title, a conveyance of part of his 
Tract from Pi<3rre Foure to Pierre De St. Julien Malacare, 
one of the Immigrants after the Revocation, which bears date 
17th December, 1686. This was in the settlement known as 
Orange Quarter, and probably one of the earliest. 

By an ofiicial certificate in my possession, dated London 
25th April, 1687, it appears that "Elias Prioleau, Clerk, his 
wife and two children were made Denizens, by letters patent 
dated 15th April, 1687." If he obtained this paper in 
person he probably came to Carolina early in that year, but 
it may have been sent after him. Dr. Ramsay says "He 
brought with him a considerable part of his Protestant Con- 
gregation." I presume there are similar evidences in private 
hanils of the dates of the arrivals of the Refugees, but these 
are all of that class accessible to me. 

Note 7th. The Entry adds of 1686, "year of the great hurricane. " 
From same Bible we learn that Gideon Faucheraud married Marie 
Ville-Pontoux 20th October, 1710. His father's name was Charles 
Faucheraud, who married Ann Vignaud. He died aged 42 years in 
France; she died aged 97. Charles Faucheraud's mother's name was 
Dupont. 



21 

There was among the papers of our Cliurch an original 
document, which I have often seen, dated 9th December, 
1686. This was the certificate of admeasurement of Lots 
J*Tos. 92 & 93 in the model of the Town, " to John Francis 
De Gignelat and Paul de Saul, ( ^ ) in order to the building 
of a Church of the French Protestants of this Province." 
Of this document we shall have occasion to speak again. I 
notice it here, to show that in December, 1686, the French 
Protestants of Charleston were a recognised religious body. 
I am not aware of any public record of the dates of the 
Settlements at Santee and Orange Quarter. They were of 
considerable extent but I have found nothing to indicate 
why these positions were selected, whether the settlers went 
to them under any public guidance, or were led into a 
common course by agreement and sympathy. But there 
is evidence that they were commenced soon after, and perhaps 
ipimediately after, the arrival of the Immigrants. It is pro- 
bable that the earlier Immigrants, already mentioned as old 
as 1677 to 1678, (who came out, not only for religious 
freedom, but also to cultivate the Yine and Olive, and Silk,) 
had located themselves at Santee and Orange Quarter and 
furnished the nucleus of these Settlements. 

The Act of 1st May, 1691, above referred to, does not 
name any settlement but recognizes grants and purchases of 
lands by French and Swiss Protestants then "settled and 
inhabited." There could have been very few to whom 
these terms could apply, except those of the Santee and 
Orange Quarter Settlements. 

The Carolina Gazette of 26th October, 1769, contains a 
notice of the death of Mrs. Marian C. Porclier, which says, 
she was "daughter of Mr. Philip Gendron, one of the first 
French Protestants that arrived and settled at Santee about 
the year 1685." This implies that some of the earlier 
Grantees, referred to by Mr. Gaillard, may have adopted 
that locality. 

(1) See Note in Dr. Dalcho, p. 385. 



22 

The family of Huger was among those at Santee. Daniel 
Hiiger the Immigrant and head of the family left a record 
in which is an entry of the birth of a sou at Santee, on the 
16th March, 1688-9, who was baptised by the Rev. Mr. 
Prioleau. This fact implies that the family then resided at 
that place, and the visit of Mr. Prioleau, a Minister known 
to have been then the Minister of the Church in Charleston, 
implies that others were there settled. The date of the »sntry 
is 3^ years after the revocation of the Edict of Nantz and 
about 2^ years after the Immigration. 

Again we have a copy of the will of Ilev. Elias Prioleau. 
It bears date the 8th February, 1680-90. He styles himself 
"Minister of the Holy Gospel in the French Church of 
Charleston. ' ' This will contains the following clause, viz : 
"I appoint mj said wife, to give immediately after my death, 
five pounds sterling to the Church, to whose service I shall 
be the most ordinarily attached at the end of my days; and 
if there are two, which I serve with equal assiduity, she 
shall give to each of the said Churches, two pounds and 
a half sterling. If she cannot pay in money this sum of 
Five Pounds Sterling, either in whole or in part, she shall 
give the value of it, in what she can." He was Minister of 
the Church in Charleston, but there were other churches to 
which he then also ministered. These must have been 
churches out of Charleston. "We have seen that he admin- 
istered baptism at Santee in 1688, and his farm on Back 
River, an arm of Cooper River, was nearly opposite the 
settlement at Orange Quarter. These were the other churches, 
to which his will refers. 

"With respect to Orange Quarter, the Title from P. Foure 
to Pierre de St. Julien deMalacare in December, 1686, already 
noticed, of a plantation on the T of Cooper River, which is 
known to have been his residence, is evidence of the early 
date of that settlement. But there are other curious evidences 
of this fact. The will of Caesar Moze, office Sec'y of State, 
dated 30th June, 1687, bequeathed to the Church of the 



Protestant Refugees in Carolina, Thirty seven pounds to 
assist in the construction of a Temple for the use of the Con- 
gregation in the vicinity of a plantation, which he describes 
as lying on the Eastern Branch of the T of Cooper Eiver. 
For this fact I am indebted to the late Mr. Thos. Gaillard 
of Ala, To a genealogical Chart which he presented the 
writer in 1847 he appends a few historical notices, and 
among them that from the will of C. Moze, and he adds the 
following remark, "Here is the evidence of a Church of 
Huguenots existing in Charleston previous to June, 1687, and 
of a desiijn to establish another in the Interior. 

With these several and various evidences of the religious 
character of the Swiss and French Immigration to Carolina, 
of its date, and the date of the settlements on the Santee and 
on the Eastern Branch of Cooper River, and of their having 
been accompanied by Ministers, the inference is irresistible 
that the Gospel was first j^reached beyond the limits of 
Charleston by them. We read therefore with surprise the 
following passages in Mr, Ramsay's History of South 
Carolina, ( ^ ) " The first settlers of South Carolina were of 
different religious persuasions. None had any particular 
connection with Government; nor had any sect legal pre- 
eminence over another." "This state of things continued 
for twenty-eight years. In the early period of the province, 
Divine Service was seldom publicly performed beyond the 
limits of Charleston, with the exception of an Independent 
Church formed near Dorchester in 1696." He says on the 
next page, "In the year 1704, when the white population of 
South Carolina was between 5,000 and 6,000, when the 
Episcopalians had only one church in the province, and the 
dissenters three in Charleston and one in the country" 
(doubtless meaning the one he had mentioned at Dorchester) 
"the former, the Episcopalians, were so far favoured as to 
obtain a legal Establishment. " And in a note he adds, "The 
!New England plan of co-extending settlements and religious 

(1) Vol. 2, p.]. 



24 

instruction by making a meeting house and a minister 
appendages to every new town, was far from being common 
in Carolina but was substantially adopted in some cases. 
The New Englanders near Dorchester, the Irish at Williams- 
burg, the Swiss at Purysburg, the French at New Bordeaux, 
all brought their Ministers with them, and each of these 
groups had the benefit of Religious Instruction from the 
time they became Carolinians. ' ' Thus are the settlements on 
the Santee and Cooper River ignored. Mr. Hewatt however 
accords their "having Clergymen of their own persuasion, 
for whom they entertained the highest respect and venera- 
tion." Beyond doubt, the groups of Refugees at Santee 
and Orange Quarter not only "had the benefit of religious 
instruction from the time they became Carolinians," but 
having brought with them their Christianity were the first 
to preach it and establish churches beyond the limits of 
Charleston. But Mr. Hewatt is not entirely accurate. He 
says that "Gov. Ludwell received the wandering foreigners 
with great civility and was not a little solicitous to provide 
them with settlements equal to their expectations." He may 
here refer to some additional comers from North Carolina. 
But Mr. Ludwell was not Governor till 1692. The Refugees 
came about six years previously. Gov. Ludwell, under 
instructions from the Lords Proprietors, had favoured the 
Refugees, but the kind purposes of the Lords Proprietors 
and of himself, had, for the most part, been defeated by the 
English Colonists. 

The causes of dissension, which disturbed the harmony of 
the Colonists at this early period, therefore claim our notice. 

The Charters of Charles II had authorized the Lords 
Proprietors, in promotion of the settlement of the Province, 
to grant liberty of conscience. Protestant foreigners had been 
invited to come, with assurances on this point. And although 
no direct denial of the right of opinion or worship to the 
French Protestant Refugees can be alleged, the perfectness of 
their churches, the sufficiency of their ministry, the sacredness 



25 

of their marriages, and tlie legitimacy of their children, were 
all questioned by adherents to tiie Church of England to the 
regret, no doubt, of the more enlightened and liberal of that 
Church, but to the annoyance of many of the Kefugees. 
These allegations, not the less annoying because thrown out 
in hints and jeers, have been encountered by all Dissenters 
and have been ann^wered a thousand times. But with these 
otlier difficulties were combined. 

Protestant foreigners had been encouraged to come to the 
Province as we have seen, by assurances of civil privileges, 
aiKl in many instances by grants and by sales of Lands, yd 
doubts were thrown upon their Titles to their lands, and 
upon the right of inheritance in their children. 

The Eef ugees had appealed to the Lords Proprietors, and 
their appeal was favourably answered. In April, 1692, Gov. 
Ludwell received instructions from the Lords Proprietors for 
the government of the Colony. "'He had instructions," 
says Mr. He watt, "to allow the French Colony settled in 
Craven County the same privileges and liberties with the 
English Colonists." (i) 

G-ov. Ludwell had instructions to allow them six represen- 
tatives in the Assembly. This privilege of representation 
they were not permitted to enjoy. The English Colonists 
denied the right of the Lords Proprietors to confer citizenship 
and the right to purchase and hold lands. For ten years, 
from 1686 to 1696, a conflict of opinion was maintained 
between the English Colonists and the Refugees. It was 
cliiefly to reconcile opinions on these points that Lord Arch- 
dale, one of the Proprietors and a member of the Society 
of Friends, was sent out as Governor. He found it im- 
possible to reconcile parties but succeeded in moderating 

( 1 ) "Several of the Refugees being possessed of considerable property 
in France, had sold it and brought the money with them to England. 
Having purchased large tracts of land with this money, they sat down 
in more advantageous circumstances than the poorer i>art of English 
Emigrants." — Hewatt. 



26 

their asperity. It is probable that much was effected by his 
mild and kind intercourse with both. He resigned in 1695 
leaving Joseph Blake, a Presbyterian, Governor in his place, 
and on the 10th March, 1690-7, an Act was"passed for making 
aliens free of the Province. By this Act sixty-three Fiench 
and Swiss Refugees, named in the Act and said therein to 
have petitioned for its privileges, were made citizens and 
the privileges of the Act were extended to all others who 
within three months next ensuing should petition in writing 
tlierefor. 

This Act seems to have determined the previous relation 
of the Refugees for it conferred citizenship and confirmed 
their titles. By this Act liberty of conscience and worship 
"to all Christians, Papists only excepted", was formally 
declared for the first time by the Parliament of South Car- 
olina. The Act is silent on the subject of Representation 
and the right of voting. An Act was passed in October, 
1692, "To regulate the election of members of the Assembly," 
but the Act was limited to the next meeting of tlie Assembly 
and has not been preserved. 

It may elucida,te the progress of opinion in the Colony 
respecting the authority to confer citizenship to remark, 
that the Act of 1st May, 1691, above referred to, (i) con- 
ferred its privileges upon a simple and easy condition, viz: 
that the French and Swiss Protestants should within six 
months appear before the Clerk of Parliament and enter his 
or her name in a Book, by the Clerk to be provided, a copy 
or counterpart of which Book the Clerk was required, under 
a penalty, to deliver to the Secretary of the Grand Council. 
The French and Swiss could not have availed themselves of 
this Act. The conflict respecting civil rights continued. 
The Refugees were probably not then prepared to yield 
their convictions of Right. But the period was one in 
which the English mind had been brought to more than 
ordinary thoughts in political and civil relations. The 

1 On page 21. 



27 

English Revolution was a recent event. It was natural that 
the English Colonists should feel the more intensely on their 
rights, but intelligent foreigners could not have regarded 
them with indifference. The English Bill of Rights had 
been adopted in 1089. It was a consummation of the 
thoughts of ages. William and Mary had been placed upon 
the Ti'irone upon the basis of that declaration. There was 
ground of assurance never before felt, of civil and religious 
right and peace. 

In the interval between the Acts of 1691 and 1696 the 
Refugees had acquired now views, and saw tlie wisdom of 
accepting a settlement of this vexed controversy which secured 
religious freedom and the rights of property to themselves 
and all civil rights to their children. The faith of the Pro- 
prietors towards the Refugees had been violated, but by the 
people and government. 

But there were other causes of dissension in the Province 
in which the Refugees were concerned, and by which they 
were to be affected for good or for evil. 

The Royal Charters and the Fundamental Constitutions 
prepared and proposed by the Lords Proprietors, show that 
an Established Church for the Province, in conformity with 
the Church of England, had always been contemplated by 
the Crown and by the Proprietors. Bat the state of parties 
did not admit of the measure for some years. 

The intolerant spirit of the age had driven persons from 
England and from her Church, Many of them came to Car • 
olina and Dissenters formed a majority of the people. Some 
of them were men of property and influence. Although 
among those favourable to an Establishment were persons of 
high social positions with a command of means, as their im- 
provements on the Ashley and elsewhere show, their purpose 
had to await its time. There were also absorbing questions 
of local policy. Throughout the period of the Proprietary 
Government there was a party for and a party against that 
Government. Precautions against the Indians required 



28 



constant care and military preparations. Tlie frequent visits 
of Pirates exerted a corrupting influence. These various 
elements in a ne^v colony resulted in a low standard of morals. 
The period was one of turbulence and there were many in 
the colony of different religious views, wlio from principle, 
and for the security of property, were interested in civil 
order. Tliis is manifest from the Statutes of the day. 

The first Act registered by Dr. Cooper in the Statutes at 
Large is "An Act for^ the observation of the Lord's Day" 
dated 26th ATay, 1682. He records the titles of three other 
Acts for the same purpose, dated 23rd Xovr., 1685 — IHh 
Deer., 1691 and loth Octr. , 1692. There was a commend- 
able effort to improve the moral tone. 

The friends of an Establishment managed their cause with 
caution and adroitness. We may deduce its progress from 
the Statutes. In 1698 an Acl was passed, ''To settle a 
minister of the Church of England in Charlestown. ' ' It 
provided a permanent settlement of £150 per annum with 
certain other privileges. This Act was passed under the 
administration of a Governor who was a Dissenter. Dr. 
Kameay says, "This excited neither suspicion nor alarm 
among the Dissenters for the minister, in whose favour the 
law operated, was a worthy good man." ( ^ ) 

The nest Act was one of 6th May, 1704, making conform- 
ity "to the Religious worship of the Church of England" 
a qualification for membership in the General Assembly. 
"This Act passed the lower house by a majority of one vote." 
The opponents of this measure presented the Act as a griev- 
ance and sent to England successively two agents, John Ash 
and Joseph Boone, to remonstrate against it. The measure 
was condemned by the Lords and Queen Anne, but no relief 
was afforded. Just six months afterwards, viz; on ttth aSTov., 
1704, an Act was passed "for the establishment of religious 
worship in the Province according to the Church of England, 
etc." On the same day two other Acts were passed, the one 

(^) 2nd. Ramsay, p. 2. 



29 

"to regulate the election of members of the Assembly," the 
12th section of which declares Aliens, born out of the 
allegiance of the Queen of England, ineligible to the Assem- 
bly Qotwithstanding the Act of the 10th March, 1696-97; 
the other a further Act for making aliens free of this part of 
the Province, &c., the 5tli Section of which again declares 
Aliens born out of allegiance but naturalized, ineligible to the 
General Assembly but entitled to vote under certain qualifica- 
tions. (^ ) 

Dr. Ramsay, in his Biographical notice of Sir Nathaniel 
Johnson, ascribes these measures in favour of the Church of 
England chiefly to the influence of Sir Nathaniel. "Tlie 
Governor" says he, "concurring in the common creed of the 
times, that an established religion was necesary to the support 
of civil government, and believing that the best interests of 
the Province would be promoted by endowing the Episcopal 
Churcli, exerted all his influence witli the Assembly and tlie 
people to procure its advancement to public support and 
legal pre-eminence. The result was in several respects 
answerable to his expectations. "The Assembly" he con- 
tinues, "was sensible that his continuance in office was so 
essential to the continuance of the Establishment that they 
made a most extraordinary provision against the contingency 
of his death or removal from office." The Act referred to 
by Dr. Ramsay is an Act of 23rd Marcli, 1704-5, which 
enacts, "That the present Assembly shall not determine or 
be dissolved by any power or person whatsoever at any time 
within two years from and after the ratification of this Act, 
or within 18 months after any change or alteration of Govern- 
ment, by the death of the present Governor, or the succession 
of another, &c. ' ' 

The anxieties of the Dissenting Churclies by this legislation 
may be inferred from au Act, amendatory of the Act for 
establishing the (Church of England in the Province, passed 
on the 17th Febi-uary following, Section 3rd of which is in 

(») 3nd. Stat. 351-253. 



30 

these words, (1 ) viz: "And for the remedying of all diffi- 
culties and disputes that may arise hereaiter, within the said 
Parish of St. Philip in Charlestown, and all other parishes 
that are or shall be hereafter settled within this Province, 
that the Ministers of the Church of England may pretend to 
be authorized in their respective parishes to marry, christen 
and bury all and every person to be married, christened or 
buried within their respective parishes, it is hereby declared 
that it is not meant or intended by the aforesaid Act, to take 
away right or usage of christening, burying or marrying, 
from any of the Ministers of any of the dissenting congrega- 
tions, any misconstructions or misrepresentation of the said 
Act to the contrary notwithstanding." (2) 

The Church Act of 1704 did not go into operation. It 
contained provisions which gave powers to the Lay Com- 
missioners which were disapproved by the authorities in 
England. The friends of the Established Church in England 
disapproved it. A society had been formed in England in 
1702 for propagating the Gospel in foreign parts. It was 
designed to promote the Established Churcli in the Colonies. 
But it afforded no aid to Carolina until the objectionable 
provisions of the Act of 1704 had been annulled. In 
November, 1706, the Act since known as the Church Act 
was passed and soon afterwards went into operation. 

In the Act of 1704 no mention is made of the Foreign 
Reformed Churches. But in that of 1706 provision is made 
for the erection of tlie French settlements on the Santee and 
at the Orange Quarter into Parishes, and the benefit of the 
Act extended to them, upon their conforming to the Pitual 
of the Church of England, according to the Translation of the 
Book of Common Prayer translated into French by Dr. John 
Durell by order of Charles II, for the use of his Majesty's 
Chapel of the Saroy, and his Islands of Jersey and (Tuernse3\ 

This outline of the progress of opinion, resulting in an 

(1) 2nd. Stat. 361. 

(2) The Chiirch Act of 1704. 



31 

Established Church, prepares us to speak of the Refugees in 
their several settlements in our State. We commence with 
that on 

FRENCJH SANTEE. 

The Refugees to the San tee settled plantations or farms on 
or near the western bank of the River, on and from Wambaw 
Creek northwardly. Their Church was about fifteen miles 
north of the creek. The point on the north side of the 
creek, near its mouth, was settled by Daniel Huger and 
called "Wattahan, " The residence of Philip Gendron was 
on the River, a short distance above the Church, at or near 
the place now known as Lenud's Ferry. There is an embank- 
ment here still called Gendron' s Bank. These two points 
designate the locality of the settlement without strictly 
defining it. It consisted of numerous farms, some near, some 
remote from the river, but the places on the Wambaw seem to 
have been the southern limit. 

The plantation on the southern side of Wambaw, nearly 
opposite Yv'^attahan, was settled by Mr. Elias Horry and was 
called Wambaw. He was not among the first Immigrants. 
He arrived in 1690 and married the daughter of Daniel 
Huger. The house of Mr. Elias Horry was standing a few 
years ago and was described to the writer by persons who 
had seen it. It was a tall and quaint structure. The 
basement was of brick with two stories of wood and a roof 
with three gables. The steps led to the second story, 
resting upon a small verandah. The basement was high 
and used for offices. The second story was finished with 
wooden and rather heavy panelling. The tract had been 
divided and the western portion upon which the house stood 
sold. The eastern part is still held by descendants of the 
original settler, the family of the late Mrs. Frederick Rut- 
ledge, a daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Horry. Upon it is a 
large and fine maasion, built a mile east of the house above 



32 

described, in good preservation. This place, long the seat of 
a refined hospitality, is well known as "Hampton." 

Associated with French Santee is "Jamestown." It was 
the locality of the Church before it was a Town. The site 
had advantages. The river here forms a bluff, in some 
places sloping to tbe water's edge. Here was and is a 
landing place. The Church stood on the river, less than 
fifty yards from it. There are no remains of the Town. 
The site of the Church is known and near it were graves 
wliich are remembered but are now obliterated. 

Tlie Estate of the late Samuel J. Palmer now owns the land 
upon which Jamestown was laid out. It has long been known 
as "Mount Moriah." ( ^ ) 

The writer was in possession of a Title Deed to one of the 
lots in Jamestown. It is lost and its date is not recollected 
but it was executed by Commissioners. It had several 
signatures and seals. This implies some public authority but 
none appears upon the Statute Book. ( ^ ) 

The Town is supposed never to have prospered. The 
Refugees were farmers but had to trade with Indians and 
of necessity some trade with Chariestown. Business and 
convenience required a centre of intercourse, and the CJhurch 
and the Landing probably suggested the place. Mr. John 
Lawson to whom we are indebted for the most graphic 
account we have of these people, speaks once of the French 
Town but does not name it. ( ^ ) 

Mr. Lawson visited this settlement in January, 1700-1. 
He left Charleston on Saturday 28th December, 1700, with 
six Englishmen, three Indian men and one woman, wife of 
the Indian guide. They went in a large Canoe by tlie 

^ This account of the site of Jamestown was received from Dr. 
John L. Palmer who now lives upon a contiguous plantation. 

^ A rough plat of the Town has lately come into the possession of 
Mr. Wilmot Q. DeSaussure, but without date. I understand there is 
a plat among the papers of the late Mr. Thomas Gaillard of Mobile. 

* Voyage to Carolina, and Journal, &c, by John Lawson, Surveyor 
General of No. Ca. London, 1709. 



S3 

passage through the marshes lying northward of Sullivan's 
and the other Islands along the coast. He was the first 
traveller who left his personal impressions of this settlement 
and as the Book is scarce I prefer transcribing to condensing 
the notices he has lecorded. 

"The first place we designed for" says Mr. La,wson, "was 
Santee River, on which there is a Colony of French Pro- 
testants, allowed and encouraged by the Lords Proprietors. 
On Friday, 3rd of January, we entered Santee River's mouth, 
where is fresh water, occasioned by the extraordinary current 
that comes down continually. With hard rowing we got 
two leagues up the river, lying all night in a swampy piece 
of ground. We set forward very early in the morning 
to seek some better quarters. As we rowed up the river 
(Saturday 4th Jany.) we found the land towards the mouth 
and for about sixteen miles up it, scarce anything but swamp 
and "pocosin" affording vast Cypress trees, of which the 
French make (Canoes tliat will carry fifty or sixty barrels. 
After the tree is moulded and dug, the}'- saw them in two 
pieces, and so put a plank between, and a small keel, to 
preserve them from the Oyster banks, which are innumerable 
in the creeks and bays between the French settlement and 
Charlestown. They carry two masts and Bermuda sails, 
which makes them very handy and fit for their purpose; for 
although their river fetches its first rise from the mountains, 
and continues its current some hundreds of miles ere it dis- 
gorges itself, liaving no Sound, Bay or Sand banks betwixt 
the mouth thereof and the Ocean ; notwithstanding all this, 
with the vast stream it affords at all seasons, and the repeated 
freshes it so often alarms the inhabitants with, by laying under 
waste great parts of their country, yet the mouth is barred, 
affording not above four or five feet of water at the entrance. 

' ' There being a strong current in Santee River caused us 

to make small way with our oars. With hard rowing we 

got that night to Mons. Eugee's house, which stands about 

15 miles up the River, being the first Christian dwelling 

3 



34 

we met witlial in that Settlement, and were very courteously 
received by him and his wife. 

"Many of the French follow a trade with the Indians, 
living very conveniently for that interest. There is about 
seventy families seated on this river, who live as decently and 
happily as any planters in these southward parts of America. 
The French, being a temperate, industrious people, some of 
them bringing little of effects, yet by their endeavours and 
mutual assistance among themselves, (which is highly to be 
commended) have outstript the English, who brought with 
them larger fortunes, tho' as it seems less endeavour to 
manage their talent to the best advantage. 'Tis admirable 
to see what time and industry will, with God's blessing, 
effect. 

"We lay all night at Mons. Eugee's, and next morning set 
out further, to go the remainder of our voyage by land. 
At noon we came up with several French plantations, meet- 
ing with several creeks by the way. The French were very 
officious in assisting with their small dories to pass over these 
waters, whom we met coming from their Church, being all 
of them very clean and decent in their apparel, their houses 
and plantations suitable in neatness and contrivance. They 
are all of the same opinion with the Church of Geneva, 
there being no difference among them concerning punctilios 
of their Christian faith; which union hath propagated a 
happy and delightful concord in all other matters throughout 
the whole neighborhood, living among themselves as one 
tribe or kindred, every one making it his business to be 
assistant to the wants of his countrymen, preserving his 
estate and reputation, with the same exactness and concern, 
as he does his own, all seeming to share in the misfortune 
and rejoice at the advance and rise of their Brethren." ( ^ ) 

"Towards the afternoon we came to Mons. L'Jandro 
(Gendron) where we got our dinner; there coming some 
French ladies whilst we were there, who were lately come 

(1) Page 13. 



35 

from England, and Mons. L' Grand, a worthy Norman, who 
hath been a great sufferer in his Estate by the persecution in 
France against those of the Protestant Religion. This 
gentleman very kindly invited us to make our stay with him 
all night, but we being intended further that day, took our 
leave, returning acknowledgments of their favours. " ( ^ ) 

"About 4 in the afternoon, we passed a large Cypress Run 
in a small canoe. The French Doctor sent his negro to 
guide us over the head of a large swamp; so we got that night 
to Mons. Galliare's (Gaillard) the Elder, who lives in a very 
curious contrived house, built of brick and stone which is 
gotten near the place. Near here, comes in the Road from 
Oharlestown and the rest of the English settlement, it being 
a very good way by land, and not above 36 miles, although 
more than 100 by water; and the most difficult way I ever 
saw, occasioned by reason of the multitude of Creeks lying 
along the Main, keeping their course through the Marshes, 
turning and winding like a Labarynth, have the tide of Ebb and 
Flood, twenty times in less than three leagues going. "(2) 

"The next morning very early we ferry 'd over a creek that 
runs near the house, and after an hours travel in the woods, 
we came to the River side, &c. 

' ' The Indian guide ferry'd us in that little vessel over Santee 
River 4 miles, and 84 miles in the woods, which the overflow- 
ing of the freshes had made a perfect sea of, there running 
an incredible current in the River, which had cast our small 
craft and us away, had we not had this Sewee Indian with 
us; who are excellent artists in managing these small canoes. 
Santee River at this time, from the usual depth of water, 
was risen perpendicular 36 feet, always making a Breach 
from her Banks, about this season of the year. The 
French and Indians affirmed to me, they never knew such 
an extraordinary flood before. " ( ^ ) 

>■ Page 13. 
» Page 14. 
* Pages 14 «fe 15. 



36 

"We intended for Mons. Galliare's Junior, but was lost, 
although the Indian was born in that country, it having 
received so strange a metamorphosis. ' ' They reached at last 
the place they sought, where they were courteously treated 
by several French Inhahitants, ' ' wondering at our undertak- 
ing such a voyage, &c." "After we had refreshed ourselves, 
we parted from a very kind, loving and affable people, (fee." 
"This day we travelled about thirty miles, and lay all night 
at a hoase which was built for the Indian trade. The Master 
thereof, we had parted with at the French Town, wlio gave 
us leave to make use of his mansion. " ( ^ ) 

Mr. Lawson visited this people about fourteen years after 
we suppose their settlement to have been formed and he 
describes a condition of comfort and convenience which- 
could scarcely have been attained in a much shorter time. 
Their houses, their plantations, their social relations and their 
Church are evid«mces that they chose their location promptly 
and planted in the wilderness simultaneously, the Faith that 
had united them. 

Mr. Lawson's pleasant sketch recalls an anecdote, illus- 
trative of their social condition, which I record as I heard 
it when a boy from an aged relative. Mr. Philip Gendron 
had made a voyage to Charlestown, no doubt in one of the 
large canoes described by Lawson, a voyage for sales and 
supplies and he had undertaken friendly commissions for 
many of his neighbors bat his return had been delayed. 
So long had the voyage been protracted, that fears were felt 
that he had been lost. During this period of anxious sus- 
pense, on a Sunday whilst the Minister was preaching, he 
suddenly paused and was observed to look intently forward 
as if to assure himself. He then lifted ap his hands and 
said "Yoila, Monsieur Gendron." The Congregation rose 
in mass, and they and their Minister went forth to meet and 
welcome Mons. Gendron as he ascended the slope. 

, ^ Page 16. 



37 

Mr. Lawson's sketch enables us to appreciate the following 
passages, which close the family record left by the Immigrant 
Daniel linger. Immediately after an entry of the marriage 
of his son to Elizabeth Gendron in January, 1709-10, he adds, 
' * And the same day, gave my son Daniel half my estate. 
Oh Lord in Christ, our blessed Eedeemer, I here acknowl- 
edge with all hamility, that thy chastisement hath been mixed 
with wonderful mercies. Thou hast preserved us from the 
persecutors of thy blessed Gospel, and brought us into this 
remote part of the world, where thou hast guided us and 
blessed us here in a wonderful manner; and we now enjoy 
the benefit of thy dear Gospel in peace aud quietness through 
our dear Lord Jesus (Christ. Amen. ' ' 

Supposing the greater number of these settlers to have 
located themselves in 1687, they preserved the original charac- 
ter of their Church about twenty years. 

We have seen the stages by which the Protestant Episcopal 
Churcti obtained an Establishment by law, and the means 
provided in England, especially through the Society for 
spreading the Gospel in foreign parts, for nurturing the 
Churches of the Establisliment. That Society was ready to 
furnish Ministers, ordained according to its views, and only 
awaited the completion of the measures in progress and 
which were consummated in November, 1706. It appears by 
an Act of April preceding that the French settlers on Santee, 
on their petition, were erected into a Parish in accordance 
with the Act of 1704. This Act however, and all the pre- 
ceding Acts in relation to the Establishment, were repealed 
on 30tli November, 1706, the day of the passage of the new 
Act siuce known as the Church Act. By this last Act 
the French Church at Santee and Orange Quarter were 
made parts of the Established Church. The 22nd Section 
of that Act recognizes the fact that "the far greater part, 
if not all, of the Inhaljitants belonging to the parish of St. 
Denis in Orange Quarter, and also the Inhabitants belonging 
to the parish of St. James on Santee River, were born in the 



38 

Kingdom of France, and hare not the advantage to under- 
stand the English tongue," and provides for their conducting 
the service in the French tongue, ' ' provided that they use 
the Translation of the Book of Common Prayer ^ &c. by Dr. 
John Durell." 

Dr. Dalcho in his chapter on St. James San tee says, "It 
consisted chiefly of French Refugees, conforming to the 
worship of the Church of England. ' ' He adds, ' ' St. James 
contained upwards of 100 French Refugees who had fled from 
the persecutions after the revocation of the Edict of IS^antz 
in 1685. There were likewise 60 English families, &c. " 
The French Church at Jamestown was made the Parish 
Church by the Act of 1706. 

Dr. Dalcho says ' ' The Rev. Philipe de Richbourg was its 
first Minister." He must mean after the Church was made 
part of the Establishmeut. The Rev. Pierre Robert probably 
was. We know that he was among them about 1695. He 
and his family are mentioned, under the head of Residents 
of Santee, in a List of Persons who desired naturalization, 
which must have been prepared anterior to the Act of March, 
1696, ( ^ ) and we have evidence of his ministerial relation 
up to January, 1709-10. In the record of Daniel Huger, 
already referred to, is the following entry. "Thursday, 
August 17th, 1704. My dear daughter Margaret Huger was 
married by License of the Hon. Sir Nathaniel Johnson, 
Governor, directed to Mr. Peter Roberts, Minister of the 
Holy Gospel at Santeo, to Mr. Elias Horry, born at Paris, 
in France," and again, "January 25th, 1709-10, my son 
Daniel Huger was married by a License from the Hon. 
Governor Trott, directed to said Mr. Peter Roberts, Min- 
ister of the Holy Gospel, to Miss Elizabeth Gendion." 

Mr. DeRichbourg had been the Minister of the French 
Settlement at the Manniken Town above the falls of the 
James River, Virginia. Mr. Lawson says, "Most of the 

^ Liste des Frangais et des Suisses, published in the So. Intelligencer 
in 1832, and republished in Pamphlet form, Charleston, 1868. 



39 

French, wlio lived in that Town on James River, are removed 
to Trent River in North Carolina, where the rest were 
expected daily to come to them, when I came away, which was 
in August, 1708." ( ^ ) He afterwards repeats the statement, 
adding "as their Minister Monsieur Philip de Richbourg told 
me, who was at Bathtown, on Pamlico Sound, when I was 
taking leave of my friends, "( ^ ) It thus appears that Mr. 
Richbourg had not left the settlers on Trent River in 
August, 1708. 

The French Settlers on the Santee supported themselves 
by Tillage, by procuring Naval Stores, and by trade with the 
Indians with whom they maintained kind and peaceful 
relations. But they had chosen an unfortunate location. 
The Freshets in the River interrupted and thwarted their 
pursuits and after a time a disposition arose to remove to 
lands higher ujj the River, into what afterwards became 
St. Stephen's Parish, then safer from freshets. This section 
had been gradually acquiring settlers, had obtained the name 
of English Santee, and in 1754 was incorporated as a 
Parish under the title of St. Stephen's Parish. The Parish 
Church is about 19 miles above the site of Jamestown. To 
this locality most of the inhabitants of French Santee had, 
about the middle of the last century, removed to great 
advantage. 

Of the remarkable growth and prosperity of St. Stephen's 
Parish, and then of its decline under adverse influences upon 
the River, we have an interesting account in a letter 
addressed by the late Samuel Du Bose of St. John's Berke- 
ley (but a native of St. Stephen's) to Professor Frederick A. 
Porcher, and published in Charleston in 1858. He states, 
( ^ ) that "about 20 years before the Revolutionary war (about 
1756), the belt of land, bordering on the Santee through the 
whole extent of the Parish of St. Stephen's, was the garden 

(1) Page 83. 
(') Page 114. 
(») Pages. 



40 

spot of South Carolina. The lands were not liable to the 
high and sudden freshets, to which they have since been 
subject. The upj)er country being then but partially cleared 
and cultivated, the greater part of its burface was covered 
with leaves, the limbs and trunks of decaying trees, and 
various other impediments to the quick discharge of the rains 
which fall upon it, into the creeks and ravines leading into 
the River; consequently much of the water was absorbed by 
the earth, or evaporated before it could be received into its 
channels; atid even there, so many obstacles yet awaited its 
progress, that heavy contributions were still levied upon it. 
The River too had time to extend along its course the first 
influx of water, before that from more remote tributary 
sources could reach it. Owing to these and other causes the 
Santce was comparatively exempt from those freshets, wliich 
have since blighted the prosperity of what was once a second 
Egypt. A breadth of three or four miles of swamp, as 
fertile as the slime of the Nile could have made it, was safe 
for cultivation; and its margins were thickly lined with the 
residences of as prosperous a people as ever enjoyed the 
blessings of God. Some there were who lived in the swamp, 
and even on the very bank of the River, The exceeding 
fertility of the soil rendered labor scarcely necessary to make 
it a wilderness of vegetable luxuriance. The great quantity 
of decomposing matter, and the myriads of Insects incident 
thereto, and the abundant yield of seeds, furnished by the 
rank weeds and grass, caused the Poultry yard to teem with 
a well fed population ; and the pastures of crab grass and 
cane, which are yet proverbial, poured into the dairies 
streams of the richest milk, and enlivened the scene at morn 
and evening, ivith the lowing of herds of fat cattle. Nor 
were, swine in abundance, and countless fish of the finest 
quality from the exhaustless river, wanting to fill up the 
measure of the people's comfort." 

Again he says, "I have never listened to representations of 
comfort more perfect and exuberant than those often given 



41 



me, of the scenes I am attempting to describe, by those who 
had known and loved them." 

"Such was the comitry," he adds, ( ^ ) "that attracted the 
attention of so many of our Huguenot Ancestors, and induced 
them to abandon their first homes in St. James' Santee and 
seek one so much more congenial to the Indigo plant, at that 
time the staple product of the State, and made more profitable 
by the bounty granted by the Mother Country. One after 
another moved up, as opportunity offered for the purchase of 
land, and in a very few years, the population exceeded that 
of any other portion of the State out of Charleston." 

But adverse changes in the influences upon the River 
supervened about the commencement of the Revolution. 
Freshets became more frequent. To the ruinous effects of the 
war was added this more permanent adversity. For the 
period of ten years following "the peace", says Mr. Dubose, 
' ' no income realised on account of freshets, in many cases not 
even provisions." The result was the gradual abandonment 
of the region which Mr. Dubose described in such glowing 
terms. The people removed to the parish lying westward of 
St. Stephen's, the parish of St. John's, Berkeley. There the 
agricultural tastes and prudent habits of the descendants of 
the French were developed in a new culture with remarkable 
success. 

The History of the Settlers on French Santee thus became 
associated with the history of the Cotton culture in South 
Carolina. The "Santee Cottons" (a black seed well known 
in commerce) are the product of this belt of country chiefly, 
and were and are still cultivated for the most part by their 
descendants. Mr. Dubose in an address pronounced before 
the Black Oak Agricultural Society at their request iu 1858, 
has furnished from personal knowledge a record of that 
culture. I must content myself by referring to this record 
as an appropriate sequel to the outline I liave presented. 

* Page 5. 



42 

We will recur to St. John's, Berkeley, but must first relate 
what is known of the original French Settlement at 

ORANGE QUARTER. 

This settlement was in the northern or north-west part of 
St. Thomas' Parish. It was south of the T, below the 
eastern branch of Cooper River. A creek known as French 
Quarter Creek which empties into tliat branch derives its 
name from this settlement. Their Church is said to have 
been upon this creek. The Rev. Mr. Le Pierre was their 
Minister, but at what period I am unable to ascertain. Like 
the French at Santee, they maintained their own worship 
until after the passage of the Church Act of 1706, by which 
it was made the parish of St. Denis. But this was not a 
territorial division from St. Thomas' but merely a dewignation 
of the French Church within it. The Parish was however 
called "the Parish of St. Thomas and St. Denis." 

The earliest record of this settlement I have found is a 
deed of conveyance from Pierre Foure to Pierre de St. 
Julien de Malacare of 420 acres on the Eastern Branch of 
Cooper River, dated 17th December, 1686, drawn on the 
back of the plat and certificate of admeasurement to Foure 
dated 14th February, 1684-5. Foure must therefore have 
emigrated before the revocation of the Edict of ISTantz. We 
have also a certificate in Latin of a marriage at this plan- 
tation of Mr. Pierre de St. Julien de Malacare of his 
daughter Charlotte to Rene Ravenel. 

The information respecting this settlement has nearly passed 

away. By the recital in an Act of Assembly dated 

1764, we find that the families of the French, wliich formerly 
worshiped here, being then acquainted with the English 
language, attended the Parish Church of St. Thomas. That 
Act therefore authorized the Yestry and Wardens of St. 
Thomas' to sell the Church no longer required for use. It 
was sold accordingly, and purchased as a residence, for a 
very small sum, by Dr. Meyer. 



43 

From Humphrey's History of the Society for spreading the 
Gospel in Foreign parts we learn that the Hev, Mr. Francis 
Le Jau, a missionary sent to South Carolina, arrived in 1706 
and took charge of St. James' Parish, Goosecreek, which he 
served till his death in 1717, The following extract gives 
interesting information. "He was not only very diligent 
in Ids proper cure at Goosecreek, but also assisted at other 
places where a Minister was wanting. The Church at 
Charleston being some time after his arrival vacant he used to 
preach once a month there, where at Easter he had but 24 
communicants, tho' there were above 500 persons of age in 
the place. " "He sometimes visited the French Settlement 
at Orange Quarter, then entirely destitute of a Minister, and 
administered the Sacraments among them. This settlement 
consisted then of about 32 families, out of which there were 
50 persons communicants." Tlie dates of his visits are not 
given. He appears to have been the third settled Minister 
of St. James, Goosecreek. His Parish had about 100 families. 
The first year he had 35 communicants. "His congrega- 
tion grew still more numerous, the Communicants increased, 
and in 1714 they arose to 70 English and 8 Negroes." 

We recur now to the Settlement in 

ST. JOHN'S BERKELEY. 

This Parish was incorporated by the Church Act of 1706. 
It probably took its name from the Act of 1704, which that 
of 1706 superseded. But it had residents previously. The 
first French settlers removed hither from the Santee and 
from Orange Quarter. When they went I have no certain 
information. The E.ev. Robert Maule a missionary from 
the Society for spreading the Gospel in Foreign Parts arrived 
in 1707, and was soon after assigned by the Governor and 
Council to this Parish. "Upon his first settling here, the 
English had no Church to perform divine worship in ; but 
about ten French families had built them a small Church, 



44 

and their Minister Mr, Truillard offered Mr. Maule the use 
of his Church, which he accepted, and preached often there; 
and such of the French as understood English came to hear 
him." (i) 

It thus appears that in 1707 there was a small congregation 
of FrcQch Protestants with a Church and a Minister. It is 
known from tradition that their church, a small wooden 
building, stood a little east of the place now known as 
Simpson's basin on the Santee canal, (about midway between 
the present Biggin and Black Oak Churches). The Parish 
Church at Biggin, according to Mr. Humphrey, was com- 
menced in 1710. The Minister of this little French Church 
was the Rev. Florent Philipe Trouillard. He had officiated 
in the French Reformed Church of Charleston and was 
probably one of its original ministers. He removed to 
St. John's, Berkeley. There is a tract of land not far from 
Black Oak still called "Trouillard's." The use of this 
Church by the French was not continued. It appears, from 
a will of Mr. Chastaigner that they held their worshi]) at 
Pooshee the plantation owned by the Immigrant Rene 
Raveuel and still owned by his lineal descendant. Mr. 
Chastaigner left by will a small legacy to the poor of the 
Reformed Church worshipping at Pooshee. It was a nun- 
cupative will made in the presence of Mr. Henry Le Noble. 
I had a copy of this will taken by myself from the Public 
Records, It is lost and I do not recollect its date. 

The Rev. Mr. Trouillard died in St. John's in 1712. The 
church was too small to continue a separate worship and we 
presume died with its Pastor, Mr. Trouillard left a daughter 
who after her father's death went to England. 

We have seen that the Parish of St. Stephen's became the 
resort of the descendants of the French, chiefly from French 
Santee, and that the freshets of the Santee carried the same 
people into the upper and middle portions of St. John's, 

* Humphrey's History, Carroll's Coll. p. 543, and Dr. Dalcho, p. 255 



45 

Berkeley. But these removals took place after the original 
churches at Santee and Orange Quarter and St. John's, 
Berkeley had become merged in the Episcopal. They were 
worshippers according to other forms and views than those 
brought over and established by the Immigrants. The 
necessity or expediency of the change had been determined 
by those who preceded them. 

We have now no means of knowing certainly the immediate 
results of the change upon those who under the Act of 1706 
were parties to it. It would contradict all probability to 
suppose that the original French could either readily •^>r 
cordially have transferred their allegiance from their own to 
the Episcopal Rites. A few years only had elapsed since 
popular sentiment had denied the Scriptural authority of 
their church and ministry. True, that sentiment had been 
discountenanced by the Lords Proprietors. True also, their 
political disabilities had been removed and they had ten 
years been recognised as Citizens on conditions easily complied 
with. Full affiliation between colonists of every class was 
desirable and tradition says it was deemed the interest of 
the French to promote oneness of sentiment and language. 
But religious opinions are not easily relinquished. Keligious 
prejudices are not easily laid aside. Habits of thought must 
have been combined intimately with their religious expe- 
riences. However controlling the policy; however honest the 
purpose; however sincere the effort; the French Protestants 
were unfitted for the change. It required them to yield 
their sense of the relation between the church and its ministers. 

Their Minister had been their Pastor and Teacher, with 
authority in the church but with no mysterious agency 
between God and man, their Presbyter and their Priest. 
It required them to yield the cardinal principle of their church 
organization, the purity in orders of the ministry, which 
formed not only their own but the basis of church organiza. 
tion with every Protestant church in the world except the 
Church of England, and although the assertion of the Church 



46 

of England on that point was not absolute and exclusive, yet 
many of its members and many of its ministers held then, 
as they hold now, the necessity of their three orders to a 
perfect church. The peculiar views of the French may have 
been treated with kindness but they became subject to hear 
reproach cast upon the Communion they had sustained with 
so much ardor and upon the people with whom they had 
suffered so nobly, reproach indirect if not explicit, implied 
if not expressed. To this in later times their descendants 
have been frequent listeners. 

With respect to other Theological dogmas, strictly con- 
strued, there is no real dijfference between the Reformed 
Church of France and the Church of England. But there 
was and is in the former a simplicity of teaching in regard 
to Baptism, the Lord's Supper, to Absolution and to Confir- 
mation, that excluded the subtle and mystic theories that still 
attend those subjects in the latter. 

The change argued, I think, a sense of stern necessity but 
it was unfortunate. 

I have no information respecting the religious habits of 
their descendants, who about the middle of the last century 
removed to St. Stephen's, and where for a time they 
enjoyed so remarkable prosperity. But memory and tradition 
do inform of the external religious condition of their poster- 
ity in the middle and upper portion of St. John's, Berkeley. 
From the period of the Revolutionary war until within a few 
years the condition of the Episcopal Church in that section 
of country was very peculiar. The breaking up of the 
churches during the war, the difficulty of obtaining ministers 
after it, and the want of confidence in those that could be 
obtained, may account in some measure for that condition. 
But the reorganization of the Episcopal Church in South 
Carolina was commenced in 1785. Its recovery, like that of 
other churches, was slow. But its career became a prosperous 
one. Yet in the section of couutry referred to there was 
a reluctance in the male descendants of the French to unite 



47 

with the church as communicants. I have been informed 
that for many years there was but one male communicant 
and he was of English descent, and then afterwards and for 
several years there were but two. It was not so with the 
females. They really constituted the church. Yet the men 
were men of high probity, valued members of society, and 
constant worshippers at the Episcopal Church which before 
and long after the Rc'^olution was the only Church in that 
parish. (^) Yet the external Church failed to impress itself 
upon the male population. An indirect impression was no doubt 
made through the females. To them the early training of 
the young belongs and the Book of Common Prayer which 
every family possessed was an important medium. Few of 
them ever heard any other form of worship and the 
Marriage and the Burial Services, especially the latter, were 
closely and deeply associated with their religious influences. 
Thus the influences of the Church they had inherited, and 
the Church they had so imperfectly adopted, became associated 
in the peculiar religious character of the people. 

How is the fact I have stated to be explained but upon 
the idea of an inherited lack of cordiality in a change from 
tlie old church to the new which had supplanted it. 
Many of the men, judging from their lives, were men of 
piety. There were among them instances of death scenes, 
still remembered, manifesting all the calmness and peace of 
Faith, yet it did not seem to enter into their idea of religious 
duty to unite with the Church. I do not state these things 
to approve them. Their' s was a great error, but I suggest the 
facts to account for an apparent anomaly in religious 
experiences. 

I am gratified to learn that the peculiarity of which I 
have spoken has ceased and that males now unite in full 

^ The man of God, whom Mr. Dubose describes, in the pamphlet 
above referred to, as riding habitually 40 miles on horseback, to nnite 
in the Sacrament of Mr. Macauley's Church, in Christ Church Parish, 
was an Englishman. 



proportion in the Sacraments of the Church. I know not 
how the present generation regard the Church of their ances- 
tors, but they are indebted to it more, probably, than they 
are aware. They are proud of their descent and its impress 
remains upon them. Much that Lawson said of their pro- 
genitors is appb'cable to them. Intelligent, kind and court- 
eous, they have dispensed a simple and cheerful hospitality. 
Honest, frugal and prudent, they have, until the disasters of 
the late war, lived in the luxury of ease and abundance. 
Interested in jjublic affairs but unambitious of place their 
politics have never marred their social feelings. Like others 
the younger people have indulged in travel and in enlarged 
social enjoyments. Still the predominating taste is now, as 
it formerly was, for the relations and duties and joys of home. 
"We recognize in all this a transmitted education; an inherit- 
ance of sentiment; a moral ethnology derived unconsciously 
from the Reformed Church of France. 

I know too little of the descendants of the Huguenots else- 
where to judge of transmitted influences among them. The 
Refugees to the American Colonies established themselves in 
Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, North Carolina and 
South Carolina. They were an intelligent and industrious 
people and everywhere, I believe, founded churches, all of 
which have been absorbed by other churches, excepting the 
Church in Charleston. The Refugees fled from their homes 
and their occupations under circumstances which deprived 
them generally of the means they had possessed. There were 
many exceptions to the general fact, but it is presumed they 
were unable to sustain separate Societies and separate 
Churches. The history of each would probably show that 
necessity, not choice, led to the relinquishment of their original 
worship. 



49 



THE CHUKCn AT CHAELESTOIn\ 

Our Church was formed, as already stated, by the Im- 
migrants upon the Revocation of the Edict of Nantz. Its 
tenets are contained in the articles entitled "Confession de 
Foi, faite d'un common accord par les Eglises reformees du 
Royaume de France," in the year 1539 and its Government 
and Discipline were, as far as local circumstances permitted, 
in accordance with the Book entitled "Le Discipline Eccles 
iastique des Eglises Reformees de France. ' ' 

Its worship was Liturgical. The Book used as far back as 
memory extended is entitled, "La Liturgie, ou la maniere 
de celebrer le Service Divin, qui est etablie dans les Eglises 
de la Prineipaute de Neufchatel et Valengin, Second 
edition, revu et corrige a Neufchatel, chez Jonas Gallandre 
et Compagnie, 1737." This book Avas probably procured 
after the fire of 1740. The first edition, according to the 
preface, was printed in 1713, before which time it seems to 
have been customary for the Ministers at Neufchatel to use 
a manuscript copy. We therefore cannot affirm what Liturgy 
had been previously used, f^) Why the Liturgy of Neuf- 
chatel was adopted is probably explained by the fact recited 
in the Act of Assembly of 1st May, 1691, that there had 
been a considerable number of Swiss among the Emmigrants. 
Tradition states that the tninister usually offered an extempore 
prayer after the Confession and before the Sermon. The prin- 
cipal prayer, called "The general Intercession," followed 
the sermon. 

The Liturgy of Neufchatel and Valengin was provided 
with Canticles, that is with Divine Sougs composed of 
passages of Scripture, not in metre, indicating the intention 
to combine chaunting and metrical Psalms and Hymns. But 
this church was unfurnished with instrumental music, and 
its psalmody was conducted according to the Book entitled 

( 1 ) Probably that of Geneva. 
4 



50 

"Les Psaumes de David, mises en rime Frangoise, par 
Clement Marot, et Theodore de Beze," in which book the 
Psalms are set to notes. Copies of this Book were in possess- 
ion of Huguenot families within the recollection of many of 
us, and I remember having seen in the minutes of our Church 
an order after the fire of 1740 for the importation of 
a supply of these books. 

The Church was originally styled "L'^Sglise Eeformee 
Frangaise de Charlestown. " In certain leases on record, of 
the Lands of the Church in King Street, dated Oct. Ist, 
1742, the Rev. Francis Guisclwrd is styled "Clerk and 
Pastor of the Church of French Protestants in Charlestown." 
The Church was incorporated by Act of the General Assembly 
on 12th March, 1783, by the Title of "The Calvinistic 
Church of French Protestants." By an Act of Assembly 
of 20th December, 1826, the corporate name was changed to 
that of "The French Protestant Church in the City of 
Charleston." But the Church had gradually acquired with 
the public the title of "the Huguenot Church," a designa- 
tion which, I think, happily combines the Historical and 
Doctrinal elements which belong to it. 

THE REAL ESTATE HELD BY OUR CHURCH. 

This consists of the site of the Church at the south east 
corner of Church and Queen Streets and the lot and house 
adjoining it, and the lots on the east side of King Street 
known in the original model of the Town as Numbers 92 and 
93. Tradition has associated no other locality with our 
church than that which it now occupies and we know this 
to be among the oldest church sites in our City. 

Dr. Dalcho, in describing the earlier years of the Town, 
says, ( ^ ) " The streets were not distinguished by names for 
several years. In a deed of sale dated January 20tb, 1696-7, 

(j) Page 21. 



61 

Queen Street is described as a little street that leads from 
Cooper River to Ashley River." "In other deeds of the 
same period East Bay Street is described as a street running 
parallel with Cooper River; and Church Street as a street 
running parallel with Cooper River from Ashley River to the 
French Church." The latter words of the passage he puts 
between inverted commas. He probably took them from 
some deed then before him. He does not give the dates of 
the "other deeds" of the same period, but if they were 
really of the same period the French Church was on its 
present site in 1696-7. But it was probably there before 
that period. In the office of the Secretary of State there 
are two documents on record that relate to this lot. The 
first is a Record of a Certificate of admeasurement, dated 
4th March, 1681, of Lot No. 65 in the model of the Town, 
to Michael Loudell, butting northwardly upon a little street 
running westwardly from Cooper River, &c. , &c. The second 
is the Record of the Grant of the said Lot, annexed to the 
said Certificate, dated 6th March, 1681, to Michael Loveing, 
Lawyer, "now in the possession of said Michael Loveing." 
These papers are in the oldest book in the Secretary of State's 
office and are marked, "Ent. 7 Sept. 1682." In the 
same book the Index contains the Title "French Church" 
referring to a page, which page however is blank. The 
Record has been omitted. It is to be inferred Ihat the 
Church obtained the Lot from Michael Loveing. It probably 
included the Church Lot and the adjoining lot south of it 
upon which latter the Church built a house originally designed 
and for some time used as a parsonage. The date of Love- 
ing's conveyance to the Church is not ascertained. Our 
early histories record an order of the Grand Council of 21st 
June, 1692, for the better observance of the Lord's Day, 
which contains the following clause, viz: "And it is further 
ordered, that the Frencli Minister and officers of their Church 
be advised tliat they begin Divine Exercise at 9 o'clock in the 
morning, and about 2 in the afternoon, of which they are to 



52 

take due Dotice, and pay obedience thereunto." This order 
implies that they had then a place of worship and, as just 
stated, there is no tradition of any other than the present one. 
It is a fair inference that this was the place of worship 
anterior to the date of the order. They complained of this 
and of other grievances to the Lords Proprietors who in 
"Instructions to the Governor and Deputies at Ashley Eiver 
in South Carolina, dated London, April 10th, 1693," used the 
following language, vdz: "They also complain that they are 
required to begin their Divine worship at the same time that 
the English do, which is inconvenient to them, in regard 
that several of their congregation living out of town are forced 
to come and go by water; and for the convenience of such, 
they begin their Divine worship earlier or later as the tide 
serves, in which we would Qot have them molested." 

The reason assigned for varying the time of service 
shows also the convenience of the present site. The water 
then flowed up to East Bay at the foot of Queen Street- 
The persons who came by water may have been settlers near 
the City. But it is not improbable that some of the settlers 
at Orange Quarter, especially the southern part of it, would 
unite in worship with their Brethren in Charlestown. 
remember having read that the Huguenots who settled at 
'New Rochelle would before they had a Church, walk to 
N"ew Toi'k on Sunday to join their friends in worship 
a distance of 18 miles, (i) We can scarcely estimate the 
ardour of men who had relieved themselves of the restraints 
of Intolerance and to whom freedom of worship was a 
positive joy. 

These facts authorize the inference that the French Protest- 
ants had a church on this site in June, 1692, but their church 
was probably of still earlier date. The will of Csesar Moze 
dated — June, 1687, already referred to in connection with 

^ Since the above was written I liave seen in Bolton's History of the 
Huguenots a notice of this face and of the points on the road going 
and returning where they stopped for rest and refreshment. 



53 



the settlement at Orange Quarter, gives his legacy to 
the French Church in Charlestown, in trust for building of 
the Church at Orange Quarter. The French Protestants 
then probably had an ediiice of some sort for worship in 
1697. But our Church holds an Endowment from the 
Lords Proprietors, consisting of two lots on the East side of 
King Street ]!^os. 92 and 93 in the original plan of the Town. 
I adverted before to this endowment to show the date of the 
French Protestant Immigration. The warrant for laying out 
those lots and the Certificate of admeasurement of the Surveyor 
General, dated 9th December, 1(586, states that the "addresses" 
for these lots were made to Landgrave Colleton, Governor, 
&e., by John Francis de Gignillat and Stephen DuSaul, "in 
order to the building of a church, in behalf of the French 
Protestants of this Province." The Grant which was 
annexed to it and bore date 14 November, 1701, recites the 
certificate, but conveys the lots to Henry Le Noble and 
Peter Bui'elet, their heirs and assigns, to the only use and 
behoof of the French Protestants aforesaid. The inference 
from the change of language is that, in the interval between 
1686 and 1701, they had acquired a more convenient site 
for a church and the grant was therefore made general in its 
terms. The site acquired was probably the present one and 
it may have been obtained years before the Grant of the 
King Street Lots was taken out. The Town did not then 
extend west of Meeting Street. Lots on King Street were 
without the lines of defence and must then have had little 
or no value and according to the rules of the Surveyor 
General's oflSce the Certificate of admeasurement gave a pri- 
ority of right. A Grant would not have been issued to 
another applicant without notice to the first. 

These Lots having been granted to Henry Le Noble and 
Peter Burelet, to the use and behoof of the French Protest- 
ants, the legal estate was in them. It seems to have been 
deemed necessary after the lapse of years to examiae the 
course of descent and the minutes of the church contained 



54 

an opinion from some gentlemen of the law, by whicli it 
appeared tliat the descent of the Title had been traced with 
care; that the parties then having the legal Estate had been 
requested to unite ia a deed to certain members of the church 
and their survivors in trust for the original purposes of the 
Grant and that they had readily done so. I do not remem- 
ber the date of this entry, but under the — clause of the 
Act of Incorporation of 1783 the use became, in legal phrase, 
executed and the property vested absolutely in the Cor- 
poration. 

The papers of the Hon. Theodore Trezevant, an eminent 
lawyer and in the latter part of life an associate Judge in 
this State, came after his death into the hands of George W. 
Cross, Esq. Among them he found the opinion referred to, 
or the draft of it, in the handwriting of the Judge who no 
doubt made the investigations and effected the arrangement. 

The Crick tenement on the North of the King Street 
lands was often termed the old jail. Tradition says it was 
once used aa a Gaol, hat I remember no reference to the 
fact on the minutes, nor have found any either in the 
Statutes, or in any historical notice. The only early acts of 
our Church in reference to these lots that I can trace, are 
recorded in Book A. A. p. 377 to 400 in the oiRce of Mesne 
Conveyances in Charleston, viz: The Record of five leases 
for fifty years, all dated ]st October, 1742, all made by 
Francis Guischard, Clerk and Pastor of the Church of French 
Protestants, and Gabriel Manigault, Isaac Mazyck, Paul 
Mazyck, Jacob Martin, John Neufville, Benj. D'Harriette 
and Giieon Foucheraud. They were Building Leases upon 
Special Terms. Other long and Special Leases were made 
from time to time, but they have terminated and the houses 
have for many years been rented upon the ordinary footing. 

THE FIRE OF 1740. 

The fire of 1740 in Charleston destroyed the Books of the 
Church. A Register of Baptism, Burials, Marriages, &c., 



55 

opened immediately afterwards, records the fact on the first 
page. Tradition states that the Church was burnt in the fire, 
but the entry just mentioned does not state that the Church 
was burnt. The fire occurred on the 18th November, 1740. 
In the Carolina Gazette of 20th November the burning of 
the Church is not stated and from the range of the fire it is 
rather to be inferred that it was not. 

The Books and perhaps other articles may have beeu at 
the residence of some oflScer. We may presume that the 
Church possessed Communion plate. There was no refer- 
ence in the Books opened in 1740 to any nor to its loss. 
Yet that whicli was used from 1745 until the late Confederate 
war was presented soon after the fire by Gabriel Mani- 
gault, Esq. We may infer that he gave it to supply a loss. In 
the Church box handed over by Mr. Louis Koux, Treasurer, 
with the Church plate and the Communion Table cloths, 
were two round Pewter dishes supposed to have been used 
at the Communion. They were of English manufacture and 
probably were procured here after the fire. Covered with a 
white napkin they no doubt served their holy purpose 
acceptably. 

The Ancient Church Plate just referred to consisted of a 
Tankard and two Cups or Chalices. There was no entry of 
its presentment on the minutes, but the following is a copy of 
an entry on the minutes of 14th ISTovember, 1785, (probably 
the first meeting after the Ke volution), "Nous les Anciens de 
I'Eglise Frangoise assembles chez Monsieur Trezevant ce 14me 
Nov., 1785, pour affaires de I'Eglise, Monsieur Trezevant 
ayant declare qu'il avait entre ses mains, 

1 Une Obligation, &c. 

2 Un Indent de I'Etat, &c. 

3 Deux Coupes. Un Pot d' argent, pour le Service de 
la Cene, donnes et marques au nom de Monsieur Gabriel 
Manigault, le Grand pere, &c." 

The following is a memorandum of the Inscription, viz: 
The Pot or Tankard is marked G M in double cypher, the 



56 

doubling reversed, and under this engraved the following 
words, viz: "Donne pour 1' usage de I'Eglise Frangoise de 
Charlestown, 1745." The two Chalices inscribed each 
"Coupe de I'Eglise f^'rangoise de Charlestown," without date. 

THE MINUTES OF THE CHUECH IN 
CHAELESTOWN. 

The loss of the early records by the fire of 1740 has deprived 
us of particulars respecting the organization of our Church, 
I had been favoured by Col. James Ferguson with several 
extracts he had made from an old French family Bible from 
which it appeared that the Eev. F. Phillipe Trouillard and 
the Eev. Elias Frioleau were probably the first Ministers of 
this Church, but these extracts have been lost in the late 
war. Col. Ferguson had retained copies of them, but he lost 
them with other papers when Pineville was partially burnt 
in 1865, and I cannot now trace the Bible from which they 
were taken. These are the only two Ministers mentioned in 
connection with this Church at that time. Mr. Trouillard was 
in Carolina in the latter part of 1686. It is certain that Mr. 
Prioleau left Pons^ in France, in April, 1686, but we have 
no record of the date of his arrival here. 

The order of Council of 21st June, 1692, spoke of the 
MiDisters and officers of the French Church. The Pastors 
Trouillard and Prioleau probably served together. I think 
it probable that they served their Brethren without certain, 
if with any, compensation. In the will of the Eev. Elias 
Prioleau, wit ten in French and executed in Charlestown on 
Sth February, 1689-90, he styles himself "Minister of the 
Holy Gospel in the French Church of Charlestown." It 
would seem that he preached to other congregations also. 
The following is an extract from the will: "I direct my said 
wife" (his sole Executrix) "to give immediately after my 
death, five pounds Sterling, to the Church to whose service 
I shall be most ordinarily attached at the end of my days; 



57 

and if there are two whicli I serve with equal assiduity she 
shall give to each of the said churches Two pounds and a 
half Sterling, If she cannot pay in money the sum of Five 
pounds Sterling, eitlier in whole or in part, she shall give the 
value of it in what she can." It is quite probable that 
at that period Ministers and people were obliged to exert 
themselves for their support. Mr. Prioleau owned a farm on 
Back or Medway River, a Branch of Cooper Biver, over 
against Cote Bas and opposite the settlement at Orange 
Quarter, and he no doubt gave his services at times to that 
settlement. 

We have seen that Mr. Trouillard was the Minister in St. 
John's, Berkeley, in lY07,but it does not appear when he left 
the Church in Charlestown, nor Jiave we any record of his 
previous history. I had in my possession a certificate of 
marriage in his handwriting in Latin. The hand and the 
diction show that he was an educated man. 

The Pastor Prioleau died in 1699 and was buried at his 
farm on Back Kiver. Of him we have some particulars, 
from a work published in France in the year 1848 entitled 
' ' Historic des Eglises Ref ormees de Pons, Gemogac, et 
Mertagne en Saint Onge, par A. Crottet, Pasteur a Pons." 
His sixth chapter relates the career of Elias Prioleau as 
Pastor at Pons. He had succeeded his father in the Pastor- 
ship. He entered upon his duties at Pons on lOth May, 1683, 
and served them until 15th April, 1685. The historian speaks 
of the perilous charge confided to him. All around him were 
the subjects of cruel and vexatious persecutions. The Edict 
of Nantz had been disregarded. At length its revocation in 
October, 1685, consummated their troubles. "On the 15th 
November following," he proceeds, "the Inhabitants of 
Pons who professed the reformed religion received notice 
of the Edict of Revocation. The greater part, fearing a 
continuance of the cruel persecutions they had suffered, felt 
constrained to sign a formula of abjuration which had been 
prepared in advance. Those who persisted had the grief of 



58 

seeing their children ^led to the mass, their daughters con- 
signed to the Convents of Pons and of Saiutes, and their 
sons to the control of the Jesuits. Others prepared to quit 
a country where they were prohibited the service of God 
in Spirit and ia Truth. Prioleau could not decide to 
abandon a flock he had loved so dearly. He braved the 
danger and organised secret reunions. The 15th of April 
was the day of greatest grief to the Protestants who had 
resisted so many trials. Their temple was demolished. 
During the work of demolition of the Sanctuary where they 
had so often assembled in Prayer, Prioleau, who had 
assembled them, addressed to them one of the most touching 
of discourses on the 36 to 39 verses of the 10th chapter of 
St. Matthew. They listened to him shedding bitter tears. " 
He adds: ' 'From this moment we are entirely ignorant what 
was the fate of this faithful Minister. Perhaps, a victim of 
his zeal and devotion, he finished his days in the galleys of 
Rochefort; or perhaps, seeing that his presence was a con- 
tinual danger to those who accorded to him an asylum, he 
took the resolution to retire to a strange country. Be this as 
it may, as long as he was at Pons he did not cease to mani- 
fest the qualities and virtues of a true servant of God." 
The sequel the historian did not know until the publication 
of Mr. Weiss' s History of the Huguenots in Paris in 1853, 
when he learnt that the Pastor Prioleau had come to Caro- 
lina. He sought information respecting his descendants 
through foreign friends in ISTew York, and the result was a 
correspondence, marked by kindness and interest, entitled to 
notice in a subsequent part of our narration. With the 
single remark of Mr. Crottet in one of his letters, that "the 
Reformed Church is an offshoot of the Church of Pons ," 
we proceed with such account as we can give of the early 
Ministers of our Church. 

We have no information of the immediate successors of 
Mr. Prioleau. The only name 1 find is that of Mr. Bois- 
seau, who Dr. Ramsay says was the Minister iu L712. How 



59 

long before and after that year we know not. With this 
exception, there is an interval after the death of Mr. Prio- 
leaii. I have read in the letter book of Isaac Mazyck two 
letters addressed to Mr. Godin, a Refugee to Carolina, then 
in Europe. The first was dated in 1724, the other in 1725. 
The first is in reply to a letter from Mr. Godin, who must 
have been requested to make efforts to procure a Minister, and 
who had stated that having occasion to leave London, he had 
committed the matter to his brother. Mr. Mazyck complains 
that he had transferred this important commission to one 
known to favour the union of our Chm-ch with the Episcopal. 
His second letter is despondent. He says efforts now will be 
too late, the Ohurch is going over to the Episcopal Estab- 
lishment. His apprehensions we know were not realized, 
but these letters show how nearly this Church had then lost 
its distinctive character. The Church had, no doubt, been 
deeply agitated. Their brethren in the country parishes had 
relinquished their original worship. The same measure had 
been a^^opted in other colonies. Men with families were 
induced to provide for them an uninterrupted worship. To 
the progress of opinion respecting the Establishment, and 
specially to the building of St. Philip's Church, the embar- 
rassments of the French Church are to be attributed. The 
Act for building St. Philip's Church was passed on 1st 
March, 1710. It was to be built at public expense. It was 
to be sustained, as part of the Establishment, out of the 
public treasury. It had the promise of permanency and pros- 
perity, and the wisdom of an Establishment was a general 
sentiment at that day. 

The oldest book now possessed by St. Philip's Church is a 
book of Minutes of the Yestry and Wardens, commencing 
10th April, 1732. At that date we find the names of Col. 
Samuel Prioleau and Gabriel Manigault, Huguenots, who 
were Vestrymen, and soon afterwards John Laurens was one of 
the Wardens. Pierre Manigault' s grant for his pew, 'No. 20, 
bears date 17th August, 1724, and the family have ever 



60 

since worshipped there. But the name has always, until 
within a few years, been in the membership of tlie French 
Church. They have an ancient vault in the yard in which 
their dead of succeeding generations have reposed. Whilst 
we may lament tlie diversion, for which there were so many 
just reasons, and to which, in process of time, all had to 
yield, we must admire the constancy of those who, under so 
many discouragments, preserved and transmitted the original 
character of this Church. From these difficulties the French 
Church in Charleston seems to have recovered, from the 
following note in Mr. Burns' History of the French Refu- 
gees.(i) He says : "In the year 1731, the London Wal- 
loon Church received a letter from the congregation at 
Charlestown, requesting a Pastor be sent them, who would 
receive £80 per annum, and £25 more for his passage. The 
letter is signed, Feter F , Etienne Mormier, 

Mathuriu Boigard, Jean Le Breton, Andre DeVeaux, An- 
thoine Bonneau, Jacob Satur, Joel Poinset, Jean Gamier, 
Jacques Le Chantre, C. Birot." 

Tlie following is a list of Ministers of our Church, copied 
from one made by Col. G. W. Cross, and in his handwriting. 
I do not know the sources of his information. He may have 
taken it, in whole or in part, from the Minutes. His 
mother was a sister of Judge Trezevant, and in early life a 
worshipper in the Church. Her recollections may have 
aided him. From Ramsay ( ^ ) we ascertain that the Rev. 
Mr. Boisseau officiated in 1712 in the Church, and that in 
1725 it was vacant. 

From some year after this latter date, there was 

to 1734, Rev. Mr. Lescot. 
1734 to 1752, Rev. Francois Guischard. 
1753 to 1758, Rev. John Pierre Tetard. 
1759 to 1772, Rev. Barthlemi Henri Himeli. 



1 Page 19. 

2 Vol. 3, Page 89. 



61 



1774 to 1780, Rev. Pierre Levrier. 

1780 to 1785, the Church was without a Minister. 

1785 to 1789, Rev. Barthlemi Henri Himeli who returned 

to Charleston after a residence of twelve 

years in Switzerland. 
1791 to 1795, Rev. John Paul Coste. 

1795 to 1796, Rev. Peter Daniel Bourdillon. 

1796 to 1805, without a Minister. 
1805 to 1808, Rev. Marin De Larny. 
1808 to 1815, without a Minister. 
1816 to 1819, Rev. Robert Henry. 
1819 to 1823, Rev. Mr. Courlat. 

In the foregoing list the Rev. Pierre Levrier is named a 
Minister from 1774 to 1780. My impression is, from some 
procedings in our lost Minutes, that he was never the Pastor 
but had served the Church temporarily, and j)erhaps at 
different periods, when the Church was vacant. He was a 
teacher of the French Language iti Charleston, and lived to 
a great age. I remember, when a boy, having seen him — 
an infirm man, very thin, with flowing hair, perfectly white. 

The proceedings to which 1 have referred arose out of 
an inquiry connected with his need of assistance. For a 
considerable time Mr. Levrier received from our Church 
$4.00 per week, and I remember in the Minutes an order 
"that half a dozeu of the best old Madeira Wine be sent him 
occasionally." It was placed in charge of Mr. Anthony 
Gabeau, in whose house, I think, he then resided. 

In the list there is no interval between the term of the 
Rev. Mr. Coste and Mr. Bourdillon. This is probably an 
error, as Mr. Rourdillon came from Europe by invitation to 
take our Church. He left Geneva in 1795, and entered 
upon his duties in April, 1796. He made a most favourable 
impression and won a deep interest both as a man and a 
preaclier, but his career was a short one. On the 13th 
June, 1796, the "great fire" of that year occurred, which. 



62 

commencing in Lodge Alley near East Bay, extended to the 
Market, then situate at the corner of Broad and Meeting 
Streets, the site of the present City Hall. The French 
Church was blown up in the hope of arresting the fire, but in 
vain. The destruction of the Church created a general 
sympathy with Mr. Bourdillon and with his congregation. 
By several of the Churches that sympathy was strongly 
expressed. Some invited the congregation to worship with 
them until arrangements could be made for the resumption of 
their former services. Others tendered the use of their 
churches for a portion c>f the Sabbath, for divine services 
according to our own usages. No conclusion had been 
formed. Mr. Bourdillon was requested by the congregatsin 
to preach a sermon at an early day on the calamity they had 
suffered, and it was announced that he would conduct this 
solemn service in the Archdale Street Congregational Church 
on the next Sabbath. But their calamity was not yet full. 
Before the day appointed Mr. Bourdillon sickened. He 
had made great efforts to save the Church during the fire. 
His exertions and fatigue had brought on a fever, which 
terminated fatally. He died on Sunday evening, the 17th 
July, aged 41 years, leaving a widow and son. The author- 
ities of the Church took charge of the solemnities of the 
occasion. The cemetery of our Church was covered by the 
fragments of the ruined edifice, and the remains of the 
lamented Pastor were interred in the cemetery of St. Philip's 
Church, in the part west of Church Street. 

Thus deprived in a few days of Church and Pastor, their 
new hopes and expectations disappointed, with added relations 
and obligations, the spirit of the small and lately gathered 
congregation was appalled by their calamities, but alive to the 
duties they had imposed their meetings were frequent 
and their proceedings full of interest. The comfort of the 
widow and son received prompt attention. Strangers to the 
climate, comparative strangers to the people, Mrs. Bour- 
dillon' b desires and views were consulted and met. During 



63 

this period Mr. John Huger was the President of the Corpo- 
ration and Chairman of the Elders. His personal care for 
the comfort of Mrs. Bourdillon and son gave interest to his 
official agency in the measures proper to the occasion and 
he brought to them the high tone of a noble nature. A 
committee was appointed to report on the condition and 
means of the Corporation. xVfter providing for her present 
comfort and her return to Europe, the Church voted an 
annuity of £60 to the widow for the use of herself and son 
during her widowhood, and in the event of her marriage or 
death, £30 to the son during his minority. The resolution 
was carried out. Mrs. Bourdillon died in 1816. Her son 
being then of age and in a counting house in .Bordeaux the 
annuity ceased. The Church was rebuilt in 1800. but the 
congregation had, of course, been dispersed. Effort was 
then made to restore its worship by services in French and 
English. The Eev. Mr. Kobert Henry, a native of Charles- 
ton who had spent years in Europe and was highly educated, 
returned home early in 1816, and in the following June was 
invited to supply our Church, where he preached alternately 
in French and Engliph.(i) Another authority says, he 
preached in French once a month. ( ^ ) The services in Eng- 
lish were conducted with a Translation of the Services for the 
Lord's Day, made by Mr. Henry. In December, 1818, Mr. 
Henry was elected Professor of Moral Philosophy and Logic 
in the South Carolina College at Columbia and resigned his 
position in our Church. 

This experiment of services in French and English was not 
satisfactory. It made parties in the Church. A few French 
gentlemen who were members of the Corporation induced 
that body to make another effort to revive the former French 
services, and the Eev. Mr. Courlat was elected to the Church. 
I have already stated the failure of this effbrt, and the resolu- 

^ Southerti Quarterly Review, April, 1856, p. 189, 
^ Duyckinck Ency. of American Literature. 



64 

tiou to prepare for re -opening the Church with its proper 
Liturgies rendered into English. 

This measure was adopted in 1828, when a committee was 
appointed to prepare, or cause to be prepared under their 
supervision, a translation of the Book of Liturgies which had 
been used in the Church, and to adapt it to public service in 
our country, with authority to employ persons to make, or 
aid in making, the translations. The committee were the 
Hon. Elias Horry, Cbairman, and Messrs. Joseph Manigault, 
William Mazyck, Senr. , George W. Cross, Daniel Ravenel, 
Thomas S. Grimke, and William M. Frazer. 

These gentlemen soon afterwards entered their work. Mr. 
Frazer attended only the first or preliminary meeting. He 
removed to Augusta, where he resided several years. He 
then removed to Mobile, where he resided until his death in 
1863. 

At the first meeting it was resolved to dispense with a 
translator out of the committee, as three of the members had 
offered to make the translations, eacli undertaking a portion of 
the services. These three members were Mr. Horry, Mr. 
Cross, and Mr. Grimke. They resolved to commence with 
the Confession of Faith. They agreed, on account of the 
importance of this part of the work, that each would prepare 
a translation of the Articles of Faith, and to submit the three 
to the committee for their criticism and approval. The three 
translations were made, and a version agreed upon and 
reported. This was printed in quarto form, the French and 
English in parallel columns, before any other part of the 
book was completed. At a subsequent time our Pastor, the 
Rev. Mr. Howard, received as a present a copy of Quick's 
Synodicon which contains an ancient translation of the 
Articles of Faith, whereupon our Church appointed a com- 
mittee lo compare our translation with that in Mr. Quick's 
work. After careful examination this committee reported 
in favour of retaming, without amendment, the translation 
made and published by our Church. 



65 



It was distinctly understood, both by tlie Corporation and 
the committee, that the original principles of the Church were 
to be maintained, and that the translation would be made 
with careful accuracy in regard to doctrines. Hence the 
three translations of the articles of Faith; hence, also, the 
translation of the Apostles' Creed will be found literally 
exact. 

The Liturgies embody throughout the thoughts of Holy 
Scripture. Whenever the correspondence was seen, the lan- 
guage of Scripture was used in the translation. 

In using language from the Psalms of ])avid, the Psalter 
and common English version were us^d indifferently, in the 
discretion of the committee. The translations were made 
from the Edition of the Liturgies of the Churches of 
Neufchatel and Yalengin, ^'mmediately used in the pulpit of 
the Church in Charleston, Edition of 1737, and from an 
Edition of 1772, obtained from the Apprenticcb' Library 
Society of this city. In the margin of these two copies, the 
passages of Scripture consulted in the translations were 
entered in pencil, and formed an interesting accompaniment 
to the work. 

The translations having been completed, the order or 
arrangement of its parts was considered within the discretion 
of the committee. Some changes were made with a view to 
convenience or supposed advantage. A reference to some 
of them may perhaps interest. 

It was originally, and I believe continues to be, the usage 
of the Reformed Churches of France, to commence the 
morning exercises of the Lord's Day by reading the Ten 
Commandments and the Summary of the Law from St. 
Matthew. These, and I believe the other Lessons of Scrip- 
ture, were read by the Clerk, or Reader, not generally by 
the Minister. Tradition states that in this congregation it 
was not unusual for the male attendants to remain out of 
church until this reading of the (commandments and the 
Summary had been performed. On this account it was 
5 



thought expedient to place this exercise after the Introductory- 
Prayer and immediately before the Confession, which expe- 
rience has shown to be an advantageous change. This is a 
mere transportation. In addition to the advantage of having 
the Commandments read when all the congregation are 
present, the order of the services is in proper sequence. In 
our Book the reading of the Commandments is followed by a 
short address by the Minister, in sentences of Scripture, 
introductory to the Confession of Sins. This address was 
not in the Book of Neufchatel and Valengin. It was taken 
by the committee from the Book used in the Reformed 
French Church in London. 

In the afternoon services for the Lord's Day, in the second 
edition of our Book, the General Prayer in the French Book 
was substituted by the General Prayer in one of the week 
day services in the same Book, viz: from the Morning Service 
for work days, ("des jours ouvriers"). This service is in 
the Neufchatel Edition of 1799, at page 18, and this prayer 
at page 20. The reason for the substitution was, that the 
original prayer implied that the congregation in the afternoon 
was the same as that of the morning and contained refer- 
ences to the previous service, a course better suited to a 
village than a city Avhere the congregations are more likely 
to be composed of different persons. Besides, the prayer 
substituted is simpler and more practical. But the original 
prayer lor Sunday afternoon was not lost to our Book. It 
furnished two of the concluding prayers, which are to be 
found under that head. These two prayers are p. Ill and 
p. 112 of our second edition; the one commencing "Almighty 
God, our Heavenly Father, it is of Thy great goodness, etc." 
and the other, "Almighty God, bless, we beseech Thee, the 
instructions of Holy Scripture, etc." The Burial Service is 
professedly no part of our Book. The Reformed Church in 
France were prohibited from any public services at iater- 
ments, and therefore buried their dead in silence and usually 
at night. Tlieir Book contains no service for burials, and the 



67 

committee had either to prepare a Burial Service or adopt 
one. They concluded on the latter plan, and selected that 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church. 

Our original Book contained no ' ' Occasional, ' ' and no ' ' Con- 
cluding Prayers," which the committee had been instructed to 
provide, and these form a portion of Part Third of our 
present Book. It is therefore proper to explain the comple- 
tion of Part Third. It consists of four sections. 

Section 1st has ten prayers for stated occasions, to be intro- 
duced into the Morning Service. These are all taken from 
our original French Book. 

Section 2nd consists of nine similar prayers, shorter than 
the above, to be used in lieu thereof, or in the Afternoon 
Service. These are also from our original French Book. 

Section 3rd consists of "Occasional Prayers," viz : four- 
teen prayers and nine thanksgivings; and 

Section 4th of Concluding Prayers. 

These two last heads are not in our original Book, and were 
introduced by the committee. A portion of them were 
selected from our original Book; a portion from a book enti- 
tled, "A Liturgy for the Protestants of France; a Prayer for 
Families of the Faithful Deprived of the Public Exercises of 

their Religion." Third edition printed at , in 

1765; and a portion were taken from the Book of Common 
Prayer, and my impression is that all these are traceable 
beyond that Book to older sources. 

The services for days of Public Thanksgiving and days of 
Public Humiliation, are not entire services in our original 
French Book. Special prayers were provided in that Book 
for these occasions, to be introduced into one of the other 
services; and this plan was followed in the first edition. But 
in the second edition, the Committee of Revision of our 
Translated Liturgies arranged these services as entire services 
for more convenient use, but the original French Book fur- 
nished the whole material. 

The usage appears to have been universal among the French 



1 



66 

thought expedient to place this exercise after the Introductory 
Prayer and immediately before the Confession, which expe- 
rience has shown to be an advantageous change. This is a 
mere transportation. In addition to the advantage of having 
the Commandments read when all the congregation are 
present, the order of the services is in proper sequence. In 
our Book the reading of the Commandments is followed by a 
short address by the Minister, in sentences of Scripture, 
introductory to the Confession of Sins. This address was 
not in the Book of Neufchatel and Yalengin. It was taken 
by the committee from the Book used in the Reformed 
French Church in London. 

In the afternoon services for the Lord's Day, in the second 
edition of our Book, the General Prayer in the French Book 
was substituted by the General Prayer in one of the week 
day services in the same Book, viz: from the Morning Service 
for work days, (''des jours ouvriers"). This service is in 
the Neufchatel Edition of 1799, at page 18, and this prayer 
at page 20. The reason for the substitution was, that the 
original prayer implied that the congregation in the afternoon 
was the same as that of the morning and contained refer- 
ences to the previous service, a course better suited to a 
village than a city where the congregations are more likely 
to be composed of different persons. Besides, the prayer 
substituted is simpler and more practical. But the original 
prayer lor Sunday afternoon was not lost to our Book. It 
furnished two of the concluding prayers, which are to be 
found under that head. These two prayers are p. Ill and 
p. 112 of our second edition ; the one commencing ' 'Almighty 
God, our Heavenly Father, it is of Thy great goodness, etc." 
and the other, "Almighty God, bless, we beseech Thee, the 
instructions of Holy Scripture, etc." The Burial Service is 
professedly no part of our Book. The Reformed Church in 
France were prohibited from any public services at inter- 
ments, and therefore buried their dead in silence and usually 
at night. Tlieir Book contains no service for burials, and the 



67 

committee had either to prepare a Burial Service or adopt 
one. They concluded on the latter plan, and selected that 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church. 

Our original Book contained no "Occasional," and no "Con- 
cluding Prayers," which the committee had been instructed to 
provide, and these form a portion of Part Third of our 
present Book. It is therefore proper to explain the comple- 
tion of Part Third. It consists of four sections. 

Section 1st has ten prayers for stated occasions, to be intro- 
duced into the Morning Service. These are all taken from 
our original French Book. 

Section 2nd consists of nine similar prayers, shorter than 
the above, to be used in lieu thereof, or in the Afternoon 
Service. These are also from our original French Book. 

Section 3rd consists of "Occasional Prayers," viz : four- 
teen prayers and nine thanksgivings; and 

Section 4th of Concluding Prayers. 

Tliese two last heads are not in our original Book, and were 
introduced by the committee. A portion of them were 
selected from our original Book; a portion from a book enti- 
tled, "A Liturgy for the Protestants of France; a Prayer for 
Families of the Faithful Deprived of the Public Exercises of 

their Religion." Third edition printed at , in 

1765; and a portion were taken from the Book of Common 
Prayer, and my impression is that all these are traceable 
beyond that Book to older sources. 

The services for days of Public Thanksgiving and days of 
Public Humiliation, are not entire services in our original 
French Book. Special prayers were provided in that Book 
for these occasions, to be introduced into one of the other 
services; and this plan was followed in the first edition. But 
in the second edition, the Committee of Revision of our 
Translated Liturgies arranged these services as entire services 
for more convenient use, but the original French Book fur- 
nished the whole material. 

The usage appears to have been universal among the French 



68 

Reformed Churches to commence their prayers with the sen- 
tence from the Psalms 124 and 8 : "Our help is in the name 
of the Lord, who made Heaven and Earth." 

The Lord's Prayer was used in all the services, and the 
Apostles' Creed in most of them. 

The Confession of Sins is the same in all the forms for 
Morning and Afternoon Services for the Lord's Day, that 
came under the notice of the committee. Dr. Brigham, in 
his volume entitled " The French Church's Apology for the 
Church of England," speaks of it ( ^ ) as "the Confession in 
Calvin's Liturgy, used by all the French Church," and he 
transcribes it from Calvin's ;vorks, both in French and Latin. 

In the Prayer in the Morning Service for the Lord's Day 
asking for the Divine blessing on the reading and preaching 
of His Word, the following passage occurs : "So that the 
good seed may be received into our hearts, as into ground 
well prepared, and bring forth fruit in abundance. ' ' The 
criticism has been made, that the translation would have 
conformed more strictly with the Scriptures, if it had been 
"into good ground," This was considered by the committee, 
but in all the several Liturgies before them, the phrase is 
' ' comme dans une terre bien preparee. " It is intended to 
express nol^ only "good ground," but the preparation of the 
ground. 

Again, in the same Service, the Apostles" Creed is intro- 
duced by a prayer, not by a simple declaration, as it is in the 
Book of Common Prayer, and in some of the week day ser- 
vices in our Book. Our original Book furnished a precedent 
for either mode, but the committee retained strictly that of 
the Sunday services. To some, at least, of them it seemed 
peculiarly appropriate. Many believers, perhaps all believers, 
feel at times the need of asking the Confirmation of their 
Faith, even whilst professing it. Our form seems to the 
writer to embody the humble desire of the anxious suppliant 



69 

in the Scriptures, " Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbe- 
lief," and therefore invites and encourages confession. 

The sentences introductory to the General Prayer, in the 
services for the Lord's Day, "Oh Lord, let Thy mercy shine 
upon us, and grant us Thy salvation. Oh Lord, make clean 
our hearts within us, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from us," 
are not in these services in our original Book; but these, and 
like introductory sentences, occur in other services of the Book, 
and authorize this transportation of so appropriate an intro- 
duction to prayer. 

The Table of Lessons for special occasions, is given pre- 
cisely from our old Book. In every Liturgy before the com- 
mittee there is such a Table as well as appropriate prayers 
for theee occasions. 

This proves that the French Church generally observed, by 
special services, the great events in. the History of our Lord. 
They had an ecclesiastical year, ensuring attention to these 
events, and instruction in the doctrines connected -with them. 
But in none of them is there any provision in honour of 
Saints. Events, not persons, are the subjects of the ecclesi- 
astical arrangements of the Reformed Church of France. 

This subject underwent much consideration in France. In 
some of the Southern Provinces special seasons and occasions 
were entirely rejected, but they were always observed in 
others. Our Church was of the latter class, but the Table of 
Lessons is in aid not in restriction of the Pastor, who is at 
liberty to select his Lessons. He has also, at all times, been 
at liberty to use an extempore prayer. 

The Preface first published in 1713 was not in our original 
Book, but was printed in our present Book from the Edition 
of the Keufchatel Liturgy of 1772. The reader is referred 
to that Preface, as containing valuable information respecting 
the usages and Liturgies of tlie Reformed Church of France. 

We claim for our Liturgy a character of its own, trans- 
ported in the care observed in its original composition, in the 
faithfulness of its translation, and in the orderly sequence of 



70 

its parts, fortified bj its accordance with the essential features 
of the most approved Liturgies. 

When the work assigned the committee had been com- 
pleted, an experimental service was had in the Church. Mr. 
Horiy read the Mornijig Service on Sunday to the members 
of the Corporation, and some friends afforded their aid in the 
Psalmody. The Service was approved. The Book was then 
printed and, at the request of the Corporation, the Rev. 
Mr. Daniel DuPre, of the Methodist C-hurch and of Hugue- 
not descent, was requested to perform regular services for 

months. These services were conducted in the old 

church, the seats being free in order to afford an opportunity 
to the community to judge of the proposed worship. The 
services of Mr. DuPre were well attended. 

It was concluded in , 1844, to take down the 

Church and construct another on its site, and measures were 
taken with this view. 

Two considerations guided the Corporation in determining 
the plan of the new edifice, viz ; the probable extent of the 
congregation to be accommodated, and an expenditure with, 
out incurring debt. As no congregation really existed it 
was necessary to ascertain what number were prepared to 
unite in the revival of the Church. The desire that the 
Church should be revived was general in the Corporation 
and none opposed it, but from the force of education and 
habit and the differences of opinion in families, few were 
found prepared to give up their church association and unite 
fully with the Huguenot Church. There was a commend- 
able desire not to divide families in their worship. At this 
time there were but seventeen persons prepared to make this 
their church and the church of their families, but others 
would take pews and give it a divided attendance. Under 
this state of uncertainty the present house was determined 
on. For several reasons it was concluded to use the old 
foundation and therefore not to widen the church, but to 
extend it at the east. 



71 

The expenditure was governed bj the accumulation of 
income during the long intermission of the services. The 
funds had been faithfully administered and invested. A 
heavy loss had been sustained by the failure of the Bank of 
the United States. We have now in possession certificates of 

that baok for shares, which had been purchased, 

no doubt, at a premium. The loss exceeded $7,000, but we 
held in other securities about $12,000. It was concluded to 
expend this sum but not to exceed it. 

The church was commenced in , 1844, on a 

plan furnished by E. B, White, Esq., Architect. It was 
constructed under his care and completed in 1845. The 
accounts of the Church during this period are preserved, 
and the particulars of expenditure can be ascertained. 

Whilst the new edifice was in progress measures were 
adopted for procuring a worthy and able Minister, and after 
careful enquiry the Rev. Charles Wallace Howard of Geor- 
gia, and Minister of the Presbyterian Church, was unani- 
mously invited to the pastorate, which he accepted. Under 
his ministry the Cliurch was opened for regular Divine 
gervice on Sunday, 11th May, 1845. The Rev. Mr. DuPre, 
by request of the Elders, took part in the services. The 
Dedicatory Prayer was offered by the Rev. Mr. Howard, 
who preached the sermons, both morning and afternoon, to 
very large and interested audiences. The sermon of the 
morning was devoted to the historical associations of the 
Church; that of the afternoon to its religious aspects. At 
the desire of the Elders a hymn, appropriate to the occasion, 
was composed by the gifted Mary E. Lee, a native of our 
city. The programme of the services of the day has been 
preserved, and a copy of the Prayer of Dedication has been 
lately found among his papers by the Rev. Mr. Howard, 
and sent to the writer. 

The high order of talent, the theological culture, and the 
literary taste of Mr. Howard attracted general attention and 
he soon took a high rank among our preachers. All the 



72 

pews were rented and there were applicants who could not 
be supplied. The prospects of the Church were most 
encouraging, until the winter of 1849. Mr. Howard's large 
family induced him to combine a school with liis clerical 
duties, and the labours of the church and school overtasked 
his powers and his health failed. In the winter of 1849 he 
passed through a serious sickness which rendered leave of 
absence necessary, and the Rev. Mr. Bartlett, of Sumter 
District, was invited by the Church to officiate for three 
months. On the 14th June the leave of absence to Mr. 
Howard was extended, to enable him to visit Europe, The 
arrangement with the Rev. Mr. Bartlett was extended for 
three months longer. 

Mr. Howard's visit to Europe improved, but did not 
restore his health, and his physician advised the cessation of 
clerical duty for two years at least. Letters from Mr. 
Howard and his physican, Dr. F. M. Robertson, were sub- 
mitted to a meeting of the congregation on 23rd December, 
1849. A resolution was unanimously adopted requesting 
Mr. Howard not to resign, and the supply of the pulpit 
referred to the Elders. At meetings of the pew holders, 
held on the 19th and 20th February, 1860, the Rev. Mr. 
D. X. Lafar was elected to a temporary supply of one year. 

Mr. Howard's ill health continuing, the Rev. Mr. 
G. W. H. Petrie was nominated Associate Pastor on the 2nd 
February, 1851, and he accepted the appointment, to com- 
mence the 1st May, 1851. In the inteival the Rev. Mr. 
F. R. Goulding was requested to officiate and he did so. 

On the 22nd January, 1852, the Rev. Mr. Howard 
resigned and his resignation was accepted 30th January, and 
at a meeting of the congregation, held on 1st February, 
1852, the expression of feeling on their part was made and 
recorded. 

The Rev. G. W. H. Petrie was invited to succeed Mr. 
Howard, and served us until 19th February, 1854, when he 
accepted a call to Marietta, Ga. The Church was then kept 



73 

open by temporary supply until , when 

tlie Eev. Thomas K. G. Peck, of the Eeformed Dutch 
Church, of the State of New York, was invited to the charge 
of the Church. He resigned in January, 1865. 

The War ceased in the spring of 1865. As soon as means 
could be commanded through borrowing, the church edifice 
was repaired, and the organ which, during the military occu- 
pation of the city by the Federal authorities, had been removed 
to Grace Church, was replaced. 

On the — day of , the Eev. Charles S. 

Vedder was elected Pastor of the Church and entered upon 
his duties on Sunday, November 18th, 1866. 

We are thus again endeavouring to perpetuate the worship 
of our ancestors. Its Rituals have, we believe, met approval, 
and its Articles of Faith are in general accordance with those 
of the Reformed Churches of the Sixteenth Century, but it 
may be well to advert to an objection frequently made to the 
Church that its principles are Calvinistic. It would be 
strange, indeed, if the name of Calvin were not venerated in 
the Reformed Church of France and in this particular 
Church. We are informed that "in the sight of cruel deaths 
and most barbarous executions, the first National Synod is 
called and celebrated in the Metropolis of France, at 
the very doors of the Court," in 1559, and the Confession 
of Faith and Book of Discipline adopted and published. 
The Rev. Mr. Calvin drew up the Confession and wrote the 
address to the King which accompanied it. His name and 
his fame belong to the Reformed Church of France and to 
all the Churches of the Reformed Faith. But with all the 
reverence felt for his mind tlie Church did not assume his 
name. Nor was there a subservience to his will independent 
of the truth of the Confession, for if Dr. Wilson, the 
author of the Institutes, be right, the Ministers of the Synod 
of Paris controlled and modified the Articles. And his 
influence upon the Reformation in England, as well as on the 
Continent, entitle his name to general reverence, and so 
6 



Kr\ 



74 

emineat a leader in doctrine has he been, that his " Insti- 
tutes," a work completed at the early age of 28 years has 
been from the period of the Reformation, and is still, a 
Text Book in most Protestaut Theological Colleges. 

In all Reformations strong opinions obtain. It is necessary 
to be definite, and polemics lead to exactness of criticism and 
to extreme conclusions. But as the excitement of opposition 
subsides opinions naturally become moderate. It is 
impossible for one human mind to explain, with satisfaction 
to another, the Sovereignty of God and the responsibility of 
man, and that co-operation of man with his Maker in the 
work of Salvation, which the Scriptures affirm. 

END. 



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